HOW ALCOHOL WRECKS SLEEP
Using alcohol to help you get to sleep is not a good idea.
You might drop off more easily, because alcohol is a sedative which triggers an increase in the production of the sleep-inducing chemical adenosine in the brain, allowing a fast onset of sleep.
But alcohol can also trigger a dramatic clash of brain patterns during the night that means your sleep won’t leave you refreshed.
in studies, scans have shown that the brain appears initially to enjoy more ‘ delta wave activity’ (when memories are firmed up, and brain cells are replenished) than normal.
But as the night goes on, the alcohol appears to trigger opposing ‘alpha wave activity’, which normally only occurs when the brain is awake but resting.
The alpha functions appear to offset the restorative efforts of the delta waves, causing a clash that can disturb your sleep and leave you feeling tired the next day.
Clashing brain patterns like this are normally only seen among people with chronic pain conditions or subjects given periodic electric shocks while they sleep during lab-based studies.
it takes the body roughly one hour to metabolise each unit of alcohol, so daytime or early evening drinking isn’t so bad, but heavy drinking, or a few drinks before bed, could cause problems.
A few drinks is also enough to aggravate snoring because it causes your body to relax, including the muscles of your throat. This can stop air flowing smoothly, and makes the tissues more likely to vibrate — loudly.
This also puts you at risk of sleep apnoea, where your airway droops in the night, temporarily shutting off your oxygen supply.
Your sleep is also likely to be disturbed by frequent nighttime trips to the loo. normally when we sleep, our bodies shut down messages to and from the bladder, putting it into hibernation.
Your brain usually soothes itself but alcohol disrupts this process, reducing the effects of the brain’s self- soothing chemicals.
And when the booze wears off the brain is left excited. You’ll feel anxious and sweaty — all hangovers are at some level a micro-withdrawal. if this happens in the middle of the night it will hugely disrupt sleep.