Studies have shown that if a person wants a good night’s sleep, they shouldn’t drink alcohol right before they go to bed. This may come as a surprise for some people since alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and theoretically should help with sleep. Indeed, a nightcap will put a person to sleep quickly, but problems come during the second half of the sleep cycle. It’s then that alcohol disrupts a good number of things that make a deep and restful sleep possible. For some people, it only takes one drink to mess up their sleep. Here are four consequences of drinking alcohol before bed:
1. Interrupted REM Sleep
Alcohol has been shown to interrupt rapid eye movement or REM sleep. This is the type of sleep that happens when the person dreams. The eyes move because they are actually following what’s happening in the dream. REM sleep is considered restorative, and if a person is robbed of it, they tend to be drowsy and unable to concentrate well during the day. Not only this, some people who drink alcohol before they go to bed are more likely to walk and talk in their sleep.
2. Sleep Apnea
Alcohol can contribute to snoring and sleep apnea because it causes the muscles in the throat to over-relax. Sleep apnea is when the person stops breathing and may wake up. This can happen many times a night, even though the person doesn’t remember. The morning after a night full of these episodes can leave them groggy and unfocused during the day.
3. Interrupted Circadian Rhythms
The circadian rhythms are a 24 hour biological clock that regulates just about everything that goes on in the body, including sleep, mood, metabolism and the immune system. Alcohol disrupts this system to the point where the rhythms can’t synchronize. Over time this can lead to such problems as:
Depression
The reasons for this are complex. Some scientists believe that the circadian rhythms of depressed people are already out of sync, and alcohol makes this worse.
Compromised liver functioning
The liver is the organ that has to flush out toxins that are the byproducts of alcohol consumption. The organ itself is very sensitive to the circadian rhythms that alcohol disrupts. This can lead to a liver that doesn’t work as well as it should.
Leaky gut
Leaky gut happens when the lining of the GI tract becomes weak and allows pathogens to leave the intestine and infiltrate the bloodstream. Disrupted circadian rhythms make this worse.
Suppression of melatonin
Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycles. A person who drinks even an hour before they go to bed can disrupt their body’s production of melatonin by as much as 20 percent. At the same time alcohol raises the levels of adenosine, a nucleoside which usually rises when a person is awake. The result is a person goes to sleep at odd hours, and their usual sleep-wake cycle is thrown off course.
4. Nocturia
This is when a person has to get up in the middle of the night to urinate. This famously happens after alcohol consumption because alcohol is a diuretic, which means it causes the body to expel more urine than normal.
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