Why Does Alcohol Make Me Sleepy? Effects on Sleep

Are you someone who uses alcohol to get some sleep? Do you wonder why it makes you fall asleep? Do you feel the sleep you get through alcohol is actually doing good for your body?

Come, let’s find out.

If you are depending on your booze to have a good night’s sleep, then you are mistaken. You are actually disrupting your sleep cycle and your quality of sleep. Not only that, but you are also inviting unwanted physical and mental health issues that can come along with alcohol abuse and bad sleep.

Let’s take a closer look at the matter. In this article, we will discuss how alcohol affects you, why you feel sleepy when you drink, and how to manage your sleep without being affected by the influence of alcohol. Let’s dive in.

Understanding Alcohol: How It Works in Your Body?

Alcohol is a depressant, which means that it can slow down your body functions by disrupting the balance of your neurotransmitters, which are the chemical messengers that connect your brain to various parts of your body to carry out various functions.

Once you consume alcohol, it will enter your bloodstream and start to directly affect the majority of your organs, especially your brain. Alcohol first affects your central nervous system (CNS). It boosts the effect of GABA, a brain chemical that slows down activity and promotes relaxation. It also dulls the part that is responsible for inhibitions by suppressing glutamate, the neurotransmitter that keeps your brain alert.

These disruptions in the chemical activities in the brain will affect your moods and feelings, making you feel more relaxed and less anxious. The whole effect will quickly lead you to heavy drowsiness and sedation.

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Sleep?

Although alcohol quickly makes you fall asleep, this effect is short-term and has many side effects. Alcohol that helps you snooze initially will break your overall sleep architecture later in the night. Let’s see what actually happens after you doze off.

Less Deep Sleep: While in deep sleep, your eyes will be moving rapidly, which is called the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This usually helps your body to process emotions, refresh your memory and feelings, and rejuvenate your body to feel fresh in the morning. This is very crucial for smooth brain functioning. Alcohol prevents you from getting adequate REM sleep, so when you wake up, you will feel more tired, foggy, and drained.

Frequent Awakenings: During your sleep, your body will be trying to metabolize the alcohol. This activity will act as a stimulant and can make you wake up frequently at night during the second part of your sleep, affecting the quality of your sleep.

Increased Bathroom Needs: Alcohol is also a diuretic, which is any substance that causes diuresis, or increased urine production. This means your body will shed more fluid during your sleep, and it will create increased bathroom needs for you later at night.

Worsened Snoring and Sleep Apnea: Since alcohol promotes the release of GABA, which will relax your muscles, drinking alcohol before bed can worsen your snoring and chances of sleep apnea. This is because alcohol will also excessively relax the muscles and tissues of your throat, tongue, and the soft palate, letting them collapse and narrow or block the airway.

Risk of Sleep paralysis and Other Parasomnias: Alcohol’s effect on your REM sleep and sleep stages can severely increase the risk of sleep paralysis, where you wake up but your body is temporarily unable to move. It can also increase the risk of other parasomnias, such as sleep walking, sleep talking, night terrors, vivid dreams, or acting out in dreams, since alcohol destabilizes the transitions between sleep stages.

Conclusion

Healthy sleep is a necessity for your body. It is the foundation for your mental and physical health, memory consolidation, cellular repair, and immunity function. Without adequate sleep, your daily activities won’t be sharp and effective. A healthy sleep is a must for better focus and productivity.

Drinking alcohol can seriously disrupt your healthy sleeping patterns and affect your body in multiple ways. It can increase the risk of sleeping disorders and corrupt your body functions, making you feel exhausted, sick, and ready to collapse. It is recommended that for a healthy sleep, you must avoid drinking alcohol at least three to four hours before bedtime.

FAQ

Does alcohol increase the heart rate during sleep?

Yes. Alcohol can activate your sympathetic nervous system. This usually happens during the second half of your sleep, when your body metabolizes the alcohol content and blood pressure increases. Regular drinking can also cause arrhythmias.

Will alcohol affect my sleep cycle?

Yes, absolutely. Although drinking might at first seem like helping you fall asleep, it will affect the quality of your sleep and circadian rhythm. This effect will linger on if you keep drinking, completely disrupting your biological clock.

Can alcohol cause death while sleeping?

Yes, alcohol can cause death in rare and serious cases. Such fatal scenarios happen when it slows your breathing or even stops it, slows your heart rate, causes alcohol poisoning, and makes you unconscious and vomit while you are lying on your back.

How to maintain a good sleep?

To have a better sleep everyday, you must keep a regular sleep schedule, create a relaxing bedtime routine, optimize your sleep environment, avoid caffeine and large meals before bedtime, and address underlying sleep disorders, if any.