Recently, I have heard from multiple people that drinking alcohol can make sleep less restorative. Before hearing this, I had the conception that it was a sleep aid and that it helped sleep. For this blog,
I decided to research this debate and choose a side in the process. After reading through all the sources, every article that I found favored the side that backs alcohol’s negative effect on sleep and now I do, too. Almost all of these sources cite the findings of the peer-reviewed journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
They all also focus on the two major parts of sleep. The first is called SWS (slow wave sleep) because in this type of sleep brain waves move slowly and the second is called REM (rapid eye movement) for the opposite reason (Gordis). SWS “is physiologically restorative and produces, releases, or balances important hormones, blood sugar, metabolism, and energy” while “REM sleep is cognitively restorative and assists in the consolidation of memories and stabilizing of mood and temperament” (sleepsomatics.com). Alcohol has been found to disrupt sleep in the second half of the night and to negatively affect REM, which is essential to health (Mann).
Dr. Christian Nicholas, a scientist at the University of Melbourne, tested 24 people of ages 18-21 to learn how the brain reacts to alcohol while sleeping (Park). Nicholas and his team tested these young adults by giving them either orange juice with vodka or a placebo (orange juice with a straw dipped in vodka) before they went to bed and used electrodes to measure their sleeping brainwave patterns on an electroencephalogram (Park). The study concluded that alcohol heightened the activity of alpha wave patterns. “Alpha activity tends to occur when the brain is awake but quietly resting, in metabolic break mode” and an increase in it leads to disrupted sleeping (Park).
Besides the fact that alcohol can intensify sleeping disorders like sleep apnea, there is an unsettling amount of other undesirable effects (Gordis). Alcohol shortening REM sleeping and increasing alpha wave patters makes sleep less restorative, which can lead to weight gain, muscle loss, low testosterone in males, poor energy, fatigue, and reduced quality of life and satisfaction (sleepsomatics.com). Other effects include psychiatric or mood disorders such as depression, mood swings, and anxiety (sleepsomatics.com). Also, studies have paired non-restorative sleep with increased risk of impaired breathing, heart disease, memory deficits, impaired social and occupational function, and car crashes (Gordis).
All of this research does not mean that drinking before bed once will end your life. If “somebody is doing this night after night after night, the effects can be cumulative, not only for alcohol use but on sleep disruption as well,” says Nicholas. With that in mind, it seems that moderation is the healthiest way to approach this issue (Szalavitz).
I really enjoyed reading your blog post on alcohol and its effects on sleep. It was particularly interesting because normally when someone is drunk, they are told to sleep it off, and they will recover in the morning. However, although that may be true, we tend to not think of the detrimental effects alcohol has on our brain and body. I agree with your research that mood disorders such as depression, mood swings, and anxiety occur. Also many know you will gain weight as you continue to consume alcohol, but I never knew it was due to sleep disruption patterns. Great topic!
Hi, Daniel
That’s a very interesting topic you talk about. Obviously, alcohol is not beneficial to our body as well as our brain. But I haven’t thought about whether what’s the effects it has on sleep. After reading your post I think it’s definitely true that drinking alcohol can make sleep less restorative. It makes sense. Because when we drink too much, we will feel dizzy and the other morning when we wake up it will be horrible. Moreover, it’s interesting that you address the topics in psychology are about slow wave sleep as a comparison to rapid eye movement.
This is a really interesting topic considering when people drink they tend to pass out in what seems to be an extremely heavy sleep. I guess not based on your research claiming it is just a light sleep with alpha waves. I agree that during a rough week of school and classes to drink or partake in activities in moderation that way you get enough rest to maintain the grades!