“When I gave up alcohol for one month, one of the most surprising epiphanies was my quality of sleep,” she says. Before taking the challenge, Sheinbaum says she used to sleep an average of five hours a night, often waking up in the middle of the night. Because it begins on January 1, some people participate in Dry January to kick-start a New Year’s resolution to does liquor help you sleep cut back on alcohol. Other people use it as a way to reset after lots of holiday drinking. Alcohol depresses the central nervous system, slowing down the part of the brain that controls breathing, along with the firing of the muscles that keep your airway open. When you have sleep apnea, this part of the airway gets repeatedly blocked during sleep.

If you struggle with a sleep disorder, there’s no shame in having used alcohol for relief. Being a sedative and depressant of the central nervous system, alcohol can increase feelings of tiredness and sluggishness. One of the side effects of alcohol is drowsiness, so it can make you fall asleep quickly. Drinking alcohol can affect the quality and length of your sleep, leading to sleep disorders — such as insomnia and sleep apnea — in some. Simply put, tryptophan increases serotonin levels, which increases melatonin levels. Melatonin may promote sleep and help combat various sleep disorders, including jet lag, shift work sleep disorder, and insomnia (52, 53, 54).

Tips for sleeping after a night out

Alcohol has been shown to negatively impact sleep, but this comes down to the individual. It can have a relaxing effect, but research shows that too much alcohol can lead to a lack of sleep or insomnia. Alcohol can increase the quantity of non-REM sleep during the first half of the night, but it decreases REM sleep in the second half. Results were similar for women and men, as well as for people of smaller and larger body sizes and people who were physically active vs. those who were more sedentary. If you continue to have trouble sleeping, speak with your healthcare provider to get to the bottom of what may be causing your sleep difficulties.

To understand how alcohol can affect your sleep, it first helps to understand what happens to your body when you nod off. There are two different states of sleep which your body goes through each night. These are known as rapid eye movement (REM), and nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. NREM sleep is broken down into three sub-stages, which show how ‘deep’ your sleep is. While changing your relationship with alcohol improves sleep in the long-term, it can temporarily cause sleep disturbances.

Could doing a dry month help you sleep better?

Alcohol may be consumed in beer, wine, and hard liquors like vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey. It is more often consumed at night, also called a nightcap, and may negatively affect your sleep. While alcohol can make you feel tired at first, it can also disturb your sleep as it wears off. As alcohol enhances the GABA’s function, it causes a slowing of brain activity, which can make a person feel sleepy and tired. Conversely, a chronic lack of sleep can leave you with a host of problems. You may notice how exhausted you feel after a restless night, but you may not realize how severe the long-term effects can be when you’re consistently under-rested.

• If you’re having trouble sleeping, there are lots of things you can do to help.
• CBTi reduces symptoms of insomnia among young adults who are actively drinking — even in the absence of direct alcohol intervention.
• And, unfortunately, insomnia is the most frequent complaint among alcoholics when they give up drinking.
• The site connects with consumers to provide them with personalized content that reduces their stress, makes them laugh, and ultimately feel more confident and capable on their healthcare journey.
• This imbalance decreases overall sleep quality, which can result in shorter sleep duration and more sleep disruptions.
• However, people who drink before bed often experience disruptions later in their sleep cycle as liver enzymes metabolize alcohol.

When your body is metabolizing alcohol while you’re asleep, you’ll experience more NREM sleep and less REM sleep than you otherwise would. Interfering with your body’s natural rhythms will result in lower-quality sleep overall and may even cause you to wake up throughout the night. In other words, though alcohol may cause you to fall asleep quickly, you can expect a restless night ahead.