Why/how does alcohol interfere with sleep? A bedtime drink will put me to sleep, but three-six hours later I’m wide awake. My guess is this is an effect of the drug wearing off, but why is this? What’s going on?
Alcohol is a depressant; it slows everything down so it’s easier for you to fall asleep, even if you’re not tired. Once your body flushes the alcohol from your system, that depressing effect is gone and, if you wake up, you’ll likely be wide awake.
I beleive it also interferes with the normal sleep cycles of REM and all that. You end up eased into unconciousness and a sort of partial sleep, but not the sleep your brain and body really require.
Most alcohols have sugars in them. Sugar will do it every time. The more sugar, the worst the hangover too.
No, it’s not the sugar, it’s the alcohol. As other posters have noted, it’s a central nervous system depressant, that sedates you. You don’t get healthy REM sleep, your whole sleep cycle is disturbed, you’re wide awake at odd times, and somnolent at others. Best solution: Don’t drink yourself to sleep.
Qadgop, MD
Qadgop, can I ask you to go into that a bit further?
After I’ve had too many drinks, and go to bed, I fall asleep. That’s because I’m sedated, right?
But then, a few hours later (or many hours depending on how much I’ve had to drink), I wake up and am completely unable to sleep. I’m very tired, because I’ve had no “good” sleep, but I just can’t nod off. I usually get up and have some breakfast or something, and wander around in a sleepy daze for a couple of hours, then go and get some real sleep.
Why can’t I sleep right away?
Without wanting to hijack too much, is an alcohol induced sleep (esp. a v. v. alcohol induced one) as good as a normal sleep?
Sorry MrWhy, but IANASS (sleep specialist). I do know that generally one needs to proceed thru various stages of sleep, especially REM sleep, to get a full night’s restful repose, and that if the progression is interrupted, shortened, or otherwise short-circuited, wakefulness at odd times can and does occur. But I lack the deeper knowledge as to why.
Not to hijack, but why does one have the panoply of emotions when waking up in the middle of the night when drinking?You know, that feeling that we have done something very wrong. I know A psychologist who has a theory that our mind rebounds extra hard and our cognitive function is nullified temporarily leading to panic, fear, shame, etc.
Kendo: No.
Zambezi: Because your brain is scrambled. Or at least one’s thoughts are. Your psychologist is basically correct, IMHO. Ask a vet how Dogs are as they come out of anesthesia. (Or watch the Emergency Vets show on Animal Planet.) Dogs --and probably cats, too— exhibit all kinds of uncharacteristic and inappropriate behaviors as they “come to”.