Is There a Connection Between Alcohol and Insomnia?

Hectic workdays and busy home life can keep us awake late at night, leading to fatigue, lack of concentration, and irritability the next day. With decades of experience coaching individuals to improve their health and performance, Ana Marie specializes in connecting the missing link between fitness, recovery, and quality sleep. However, as the night goes on, it disrupts your sleep cycle and prevents you from reaching restorative deep and REM sleep.

That’s why even one late-night drink can make you feel jet-lagged the next day. From disrupted sleep architecture to elevated heart rate and stress hormones, the effects ripple through nearly every recovery system in your body. Regular binge drinking can increase blood pressure in the long term, posing serious health concerns. “Despite some improvement after withdrawal subsides, sleep patterns may never return to normal in those with alcoholism, even after years of abstinence,” the NIAAA says. These issues can continue even after someone with alcohol use disorder stops drinking alcohol. According to the NIAAA, people suffering from alcohol use disorder may have a number of sleep issues.

I recommend to my patients drinking two to three times a week. The rebound effect may include more time in REM—a lighter sleep stage from which it is easy to be awakened. REM sleep, which gets shortchanged in the first half of the night under the influence of alcohol, is important for mental restoration, including memory and emotional processing. But alcohol goes on to affect the entire night of sleep to come. Depending on how much alcohol is consumed, however, what seems like falling asleep may be something closer to passing out. Before we look at the effects of alcohol on sleep in detail, here’s the basic bottom line.

According to research by the Cleveland Clinic, alcohol intake can accelerate the heart rate and contribute to panic attacks in some individuals. HRV is important because it reflects how adaptable your body can be. Alcohol can cause sleep disruptions and reduce REM sleep, the deepest stage of sleep during which dreams occur.

It helps you sleep through the night

“Beyond physical changes, many people are surprised by how much mental space opens up when alcohol is no longer part of their daily routine,” she adds. “The consumption of alcohol disrupts a person’s normal sleep pattern, particularly REM sleep, which is vital to both mental restoration and achieving an emotionally balanced state of mind,” says Dr Tesfu. In each cycle we experience different sleep stages, like light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep.

Can Alcohol Cause Insomnia?

Research suggests that yoga may positively affect the quality, efficiency, and duration of sleep. That said, timing is important, as too much evening light exposure may prevent you from falling asleep and hinder melatonin production. Daylight exposure may also increase evening fatigue and sleep duration and quality.

• When alcohol is consumed, it’s burned first as a fuel source before your body uses anything else.
• According to an observational study cited by the Sleep Foundation, even low to moderate amounts of alcohol — two drinks or less for men and one drink or less for women — decreased sleep quality by nearly 10 to 24 percent.
• “If you’re regularly having trouble falling asleep, see your family physician,” he recommends.
• Generally, even healthy alcohol consumption can lead to poor sleep quality.
• Alcohol also affects circadian rhythms – the 24-hour body clock that responds to environmental light cues in order to synchronise our sleep-wake cycle.
• That said, it may help to just disconnect and put away all your electronics at least 1 hour before going to bed.
• These two types of waves occurring together can offset each other, causing less restful sleep.

Why is my heart rate higher after drinking?

How does alcohol impact the health metrics tracked by Oura? Alcohol blunts this surge, meaning your body misses one of its most restorative nightly processes. The maverick house sober living first sleep story she wrote covered the best and worst foods to eat before bed. Since joining the Mattress Clarity team in 2016, she has reviewed hundreds of sleep products, like bed pillows and mattresses and written over 200 sleep-related stories for the site. In addition, Katie reported, writed, and edited sleep health and sleep industry news for the site. The impact of alcohol on REM sleep depends on how much was consumed.

Why Alcohol Disrupts Your Sleep

According to the Sleep Foundation, people who have alcohol use disorders often experience symptoms of insomnia, which is the most common sleep disorder. Research shows that alcohol essentially disrupts the normal deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep cycles (the stage of sleep when most dreaming happens), which can lead to shorter sleep time and more fragmented and lighter sleep. Here’s what to know about how a nightcap can affect your sleep and why doctors say it’s not a good idea to rely on alcohol as a sleep aid. Obviously sleep quality is not as good if you have had a few drinks. CBTi reduces symptoms of insomnia among young adults who are actively drinking — even in the absence of direct alcohol intervention.

Alcohol disrupts your natural sleep rhythms and sacrifices precious REM sleep. It’s important to be aware that quitting alcohol cold turkey can be dangerous. Alcohol consumption can have a significant impact on various sleep disorders. You deserve healthier and more effective tools and treatment. Someone with AUD is likely to experience challenges when it comes to getting restful sleep.

NREM sleep happens first, and there are four different stages of NREM sleep. A physician can make a diagnosis and work with them on a treatment plan, which may or may not include cutting back on alcohol consumption. “In this treatment, a machine delivers air pressure through a piece that fits into your nose or is placed over your nose and mouth while you sleep,” the Mayo Clinic says. One is a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP), which is a mask one wears during sleep.

• Because it begins on January 1, some people participate in Dry January to kick-start a New Year’s resolution to cut back on alcohol.
• But I need a little extra motivation, so I’ve asked a doctor why it’s the best thing you can do for more restful sleep in 2026.
• These effects only occur in the first part of sleep—usually within the first four hours of the night as your body metabolizes the alcohol.
• According to research by the Cleveland Clinic, alcohol intake can accelerate the heart rate and contribute to panic attacks in some individuals.
• Besides hormones, alcohol changes brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, which influence your mood and thinking.
• Medication Alcohol may interact with other medications that you may be taking to help you sleep.
• This means people with insomnia have an increased risk of alcohol and substance use disorders.

One option is a wearable sleep tracker, like one built into a smartwatch. If someone does feel hungover, Harvard Health says, make sure to drink plenty of water. If someone experiences a hangover, that can also affect how tired they feel and potentially interfere with their sleep schedule and energy levels. Withdrawal symptoms typically last for a few days but can stretch on for weeks in some cases.

In 2013, researchers reviewed 20 studies centered on alcohol and sleep for an overarching look at the detrimental impacts of alcohol on nighttime rest. If you or someone you love relies on alcohol to fall asleep, contact Avenues Recovery. Protecting your brain means choosing healthy sleep habits and limiting alcohol. One key hormone is melatonin, which signals your body that it’s time to sleep.

Can alcohol cause insomnia in young adults?

With heating systems, cold weather wake-ups and and dark days ruining the quality of our rest. “Learning which social occasions include drinking and then picking other options for those times helps to decrease your desire to drink.” Even drinking in moderation will cause breaks in a person’s sleep Which is why Dry January can help you stay asleep all night long.

Those who experience any long-lasting symptoms after quitting alcohol should speak to their doctor about what’s going on and what they can do about it. The answers to these questions can help them gauge how alcohol affects their rest. And of course, there is always the good old-fashioned method of writing down any observations about your sleep after waking up the next morning.

Is there a “safe” amount of alcohol for sleep?

These include exercising early in the day, reading a print book, keeping your room cool, taking a warm bath, and avoiding screens within an hour before sleep. Although the research is mixed, some studies suggest that PI may help improve sleep onset, duration, and quality. Paradoxical intention (PI) is a sleeping technique that involves intentionally staying awake, rather than forcing yourself to sleep. Although individual preferences play an important role in choosing a sleep position, the side position may provide the best quality sleep. However, this might not be the best position to sleep in as it could lead to blocked airways, sleep apnea, and snoring. Traditionally, it was believed that back sleepers (supine) had a better quality of sleep.

The third form of sleep apnea is complex sleep apnea, a combination of obstructive and central sleep apnea. The most common form of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, libs mushrooms which occurs “when your throat muscles intermittently relax and block your airway during sleep,” the Mayo Clinic says. This can make things like sleep apnea and snoring significantly worse. It will also touch on how hangovers can affect sleep and the links between alcohol use disorder and sleep.

The Recovery Village at Baptist Health offers comprehensive addiction treatment for drug and alcohol addictions and co-occurring mental health conditions. “The role of GABAA receptors in mediating the effects of alcohol in the central nervous system.” Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, July 2003. Contact us today to learn how we can help you or your loved one gain freedom from alcohol addiction.

The best thing you can do to promote high quality sleep is to maintain your natural sleep cycle. With time, the body will heal and regain its natural ability to get restful sleep. It’s important to  remember that this discomfort is temporary, and that once this stage is over, your sleep quality will improve. This is often known as ‘alcohol dependence.’ As alcohol is removed from the equation in early sobriety, its common to experience various withdrawal symptoms as the body adjusts and heals. After an extended period of unhealthy alcohol use, the body can adapt to the presence of alcohol and even come to rely on it. Understanding these relationships is crucial for managing both alcohol use and sleep health effectively.

Drinking alcohol can potentially cause insomnia symptoms and feeling groggy can you die from alcohol withdrawal what to know the following day and has been proven to reduce REM sleep. Restorative sleep enables the body to repair and replenish the cellular components required for essential biological functions that are depleted throughout an awake day. The problem with this method is that even though it might help you fall asleep, what happens afterward would not be considered a good night’s sleep. Alcohol has sedative effects that impact sleep and daytime alertness. Anyone who’s ever had a drink or more understands that alcohol consumption can make you sleepy at night.

These trackers use the accelerometer within the smartwatch to track when one is asleep, restless, and awake. One helpful tool is to track our sleep for a while and compare our sleep on nights when we have consumed alcohol to our sleep on nights when we have not. It’s best to give oneself a buffer between drinking and going to sleep whenever possible. All of these factors help determine how much alcohol will intoxicate someone, and also play a role in how quickly they can sober up after drinking.