Alcohol and Sleep
We recently received the following question:
“Dear BLUESLEEP Doctor: I have a very stressful job and need a drink or two in the evening. I go to bed nice and tipsy and fall asleep in two seconds, just to wake up at 3 or 4 am unable to fall back asleep. I have tried sleeping pills but they give me a hangover.”
Thank you for raising this important issue: Up to 25% of the population will use alcohol at least a few times a month as a sleeping aid. As you have noticed, having one or more drinks in the evening or just before bed (a night cap) will indeed make you sleepy and allow you to fall asleep. The problem is that the effect of alcohol is short lived, and about 3 to 4 hours after falling asleep you will feel the effects of alcohol withdrawal (a mini hangover). This will cause sweating, nausea, awakenings, and a fitful sleep. Your normal sleep cycle is interrupted and you are likely to have more vivid dreams and nightmares. The awakenings and lighter sleep in the second half of the night lead to daytime fatigue, headaches, difficulty concentrating, problems with memory, and mood swings.
Alcohol also worsens underlying sleep apnea and snoring because it relaxes the muscles in the throat and this causes a collapse of the upper airway (the upper and lower parts of the throat).
My advice: never go to sleep tipsy or drunk if you can avoid it. Spend some time walking off the alcohol, or breathing it off with some other type of light exercise ... and drink lots of water. Many of the undesirable side effects of overdrinking come from dehydration.
Don’t try sleeping pills unless they are prescribed by your doctor, and ... never mix sleeping pills with alcohol!
Sleep well,
Jordan Stern, MD, Founder BlueSleep
Sleep aids should never be taken with alcohol,it can be a deadly mix. Because alcohol and sleeping pills are both sedatives, your body receives a double dose of sedatives. These both just do not mix well with one another and the end result can be more dangerous.
ReplyDelete