Want To Drink Booze and Still Sleep Well?

Let’s set the record straight—no amount of alcohol is healthy. Though moderate drinking has been associated with a lower risk of some diseases, alcohol (ethanol) is toxic to your brain, liver, heart, and pancreas. A few drinks may initially be sedative, release our inhibitions, and lead to a sense of relaxation, but as the body metabolizes that fifth Jack and Coke, physiology is disrupted.

These effects are particularly salient in regard to sleep. Many self-proclaimed insomniacs may self-medicate with alcohol in an attempt to fall asleep, according to Ian Greenlund, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in cardiovascular physiology at the Mayo Clinic, which “paves a dangerous path to alcohol dependence and excessive alcohol consumption prior to sleep.”

There’s also zero evidence that alcohol helps with sleep in any way other than hastening the speed at which we fall asleep. In fact, the opposite is proven to be true—alcohol is a major sleep disruptor. If anyone knows best, it’s Louisa Nicola, MD, a neurophysiologist and host of the popular health podcast The Neuro Experience. According to Nicola, consuming alcohol too close to bedtime has a range of negative effects like reducing rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, which is crucial for forming memories. Sleep quality and duration also suffer when we’ve had alcohol, in particular, deep sleep (also known as slow-wave sleep) diminishes in a dose-dependent manner based on how much we’ve had to drink.

Christian Benedict, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and lecturer in neuroscience, believes that the most disruptive aspects of late-night alcohol are its ability to impact breathing, induce snoring, and exacerbate sleep apnea—all of which promote low-quality rest and leave you waking up feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck.

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