Alcohol and Insomnia: Everything Your Need to Know

However, scientific consensus maintains that chronic use ultimately disrupts sleep-related physiology–even among those who do not meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence. If left untreated, insomnia can affect an addicted person’s recovery and contribute to relapse. People with alcohol use disorder experience insomnia at higher rates than those who don’t abuse alcohol. This blog covers the connection between alcohol consumption and insomnia and how you can get help to treat both conditions. Since alcohol can cause lightheadedness and sedation, people assume it can be a makeshift sleep medicine.

• To investigate the relationship between global or component scores of the PSQI-K and AUDIT-KR scores, we performed the Mann-Whitney test.
• As mentioned in the main article, brain chemicals (i.e., neurotransmitters) that mediate the transmission of nerve signals from one nerve cell (i.e., neuron) to the next likely play important roles in mediating alcohol’s effect on sleep in alcoholics.
• Some self-report measures (e.g., amount) tend to underestimate sleep disturbance while other measures (e.g., time to get to sleep) tend to over-estimate insomnia in comparison to polysomnography (30,31).
• Norepinephrine is another neurotransmitter that possibly mediates some of alcohol’s acute effects on sleep.

Though alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, it can disrupt the important REM stage of your sleep cycle, leading to lack of sleep or sleep disorders like insomnia. Though alcohol can does alcohol cause insomnia have a sedative effect, it has also been linked to sleep disorders like insomnia. If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep, alcohol consumption could be a contributing factor.

Risk factors

Interestingly, few studies have focused on the stimulant properties of alcohol, which may not only relate to insomnia but to the vulnerability to alcohol use problems over time. Late afternoon (“happy hour”) drinking, as much as six hours before bedtime, also disrupts sleep, even though alcohol is no longer in the brain at bedtime (18). This phenomenon suggests a relatively long-lasting change in sleep regulation. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ However, recognition of the complexities of the relationship between alcohol and insomnia is important for several reasons. As such, clinical alertness to insomnia as a symptom of alcohol problems might facilitate timely intervention. Sleep disturbance is common among patients in remission from alcohol use disorders, and understanding this relationship may help clinicians assist patients in recovery.

A 2019 study showed that individuals who sleep for under 6 hours each night have a 20% higher chance of heart attack than individuals who sleep between 6 and 9 hours. Studies estimate that 36–91% of people experiencing alcohol dependence may have insomnia. If you think your drinking may be impeding your sleep or overall quality of life, speaking to your doctor or therapist is a great first step. If your drinking is impacting your sleep or overall quality of life, you may want to make a change. A great first step is to speak with a trusted loved one, a primary care doctor, or a therapist about your desire to make a change.

Alcohol and Insomnia Statistics

So while cutting out drinking will likely benefit your sleep, there may be other factors affecting your shuteye. 3In that study, participants drank 8.6 ounces of pure alcohol for 5 days followed by 11.4 ounces of pure alcohol for 5 days. One standard drink (i.e., 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80 proof distilled spirits) contains approximately 0.5 ounce of pure alcohol. Brain levels of adenosine increase with prolonged waking and before sleeping, suggesting that it may have a role in sleep induction (see table in sidebar). If you have depression and drink too much alcohol, then you may be wondering if there are any treatments or lifestyle changes for someone in your situation. There are a variety of programs available for those wishing to undergo alcohol detox.