The reason you sleep poorly after drinking too much alcohol
We’ve all been there before – finally collapsing into bed after a long night (or day) eating, drinking and being merry with our loved ones, only to be awoken much earlier than we would like and not being able to fall back asleep no matter what we try.
While one glass of wine has been proven to help us fall asleep, we all know a little too much alcohol (i.e. any more than two, according to research) can wreak havoc on our quality (and length) of sleep. But what’s really happening in our bodies when this occurs and can we stop it?
Well, studies do indeed concede that alcohol will send you off to the land of nod quicker and increase slow-wave sleep during the first half of the night – that’s the kind that gets rid of that sleepy feeling – but it’s the second half of the night that gets disrupted. This is referred to as the “rebound effect”.
“The idea is that the body initially adjusts for alcohol’s effects in order to maintain normal sleep during the first half of the night,” the Washington Post explains. “During the second half of the night, however, the body stubbornly continues to adjust, ultimately overcompensating and resulting in sleep disruption.”
That is to say, once that alcohol is metabolised by the body, the effects the body was using to adjust for its effect are now useless, waking you up and making you so alert you simply can’t fall back asleep.
In addition, REM sleep (the stage associated with dreaming and restoration) takes a real hit when too much alcohol is consumed, reducing it to the point where once you do wake up, you don’t have that same feeling of restfulness you’d get from a normal night’s sleep. This certainly explains that zombie-like feeling that comes with hangovers!
As for preventing it? There’s only three options – stop at two drinks, abstain completely or suffer the consequences. It’s your choice.