Many alcoholics develop poor sleep habits and irregular sleep-wake schedules when drinking, which may persist after quitting. Napping and maintaining an irregular sleep-wake schedule are associated with greater wakefulness and poorer sleep quality at night (Currie et al., 2003).
Chronic alcohol use is associated with many behavioral concerns, including complaints with sleep in 35%−91% of patients. The most common problems include increased sleep latency (i.e., difficulty initiating sleep), poor sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness.
After your body has metabolized some of the alcohol it will release excitatory glutamate, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter of your nervous system. When it enters the reticular activating system, it disrupts your sleep.
Abstinent alcoholics tend to sleep poorly, with decreased amounts of SWS and increased nighttime wakefulness that could make sleep less restorative and contribute to daytime fatigue (22). Resumption of heavy drinking leads to increased SWS and decreased wakefulness.
What stage of sleep is most disrupted by alcohol? Alcohol can disrupt all stages of sleep, but it is most likely to affect the latter stages of sleep, known as deep sleep or slow-wave sleep. Deep sleep is a vital stage of sleep that is important for physical and emotional rest and repair.
Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of chronic diseases and other serious problems including: High blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems. Cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box, liver, colon, and rectum.
One reason: In the brain, alcohol acts on gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a neurotransmitter that inhibits impulses between nerve cells and has a calming effect. Alcohol can also suppress rapid eye movement, or REM sleep, which is when most dreaming occurs.
Liver Issues And Alcoholism
An individual diagnosed with liver cirrhosis has an expected life span thereafter of around 12 years [12]. Most alcoholics are diagnosed with liver disease between the age of 30 and 40 [13], giving an expectation of, at best, 52 years of age.
There really is no age at which it is more likely that you will drink alcoholically. People come to treatment for drinking alcoholically at any time from their 20s to their 70s.
Doctors guess that chronic alcohol abuse will lower a person's life expectancy by as many as twelve years. Though many people are aware that alcohol improves the likelihood of liver complications and heart disease, many people do not realize how many other risks alcohol poses.
When you start your day with a drink or two, it usually means that your body is so accustomed to alcohol that it cannot function normally without it. People struggling with alcohol problems usually start drinking as soon as they get up in order to feel better.
Drinking too much wakes you up for two main reasons, explained Gamaldo. First, alcohol is a diuretic, so your body works hard to metabolize it and creates large volumes of urine to help you get the alcohol out of your body. So, you'll likely need to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
The body, as smart as it is, makes certain adjustments to the amount of REM sleep you experience once it detects alcohol in the system. However, once all the alcohol is metabolized by your body, these previously made adjustments to the sleep cycle continue, which results in you waking up.
Evidence shows that alcoholism or chronic alcohol consumption can cause both accelerated (or premature) aging – in which symptoms of aging appear earlier than normal – and exaggerated aging, in which the symptoms appear at the appropriate time but in a more exaggerated form.
After one week away from alcohol, you may notice that you are sleeping better. When you drink, you typically fall straight into a deep sleep, missing the important rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Alcohol's Lasting Effects on Sleep
Because of the damage that alcohol can do to your sleep cycles, sleep problems are common, even if you stop drinking. You may notice some worsened insomnia during alcohol withdrawal. However, you may continue to have trouble sleeping for years after you stop drinking.
Alcohols bind with other atoms to create secondary alcohols. These secondary alcohols are the three types of alcohol that humans use every day: methanol, isopropanol, and ethanol.
Heavy Alcohol Use:
For men, consuming more than 4 drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks per week. For women, consuming more than 3 drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week.
The effects of living with an alcoholic on partners
Living with an alcoholic causes mistrust, intimacy issues, mental and physical problems and relationship breakdown. People in long-term relationships often excuse addictive behaviour because they can remember what the person was like before alcohol.
Even binge drinkers are not necessarily alcoholics
…about 29 percent of the population meets the definition for excessive drinking, but 90 percent of them do not meet the definition of alcoholism.…
Regular drinking can affect the quality of your sleep making you feel tired and sluggish. This is because drinking disrupts your sleep cycle. Some people may find alcohol helps them get to sleep initially, but this is outweighed by the negative effect on sleep quality through the night.
Once your body has built up a physical dependence upon alcohol, called tolerance, and alcohol use stops, withdrawal symptoms will occur. Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and frequently include insomnia and other sleep disruptions.
If s/he must lie down, keep the person on his/her side with his/her head turned to the side. Watch for choking; if the person begins to choke, GET HELP IMMEDIATELY, CALL 9-1-1. If a person drinks alcohol in combination with any other drug, the combined effect could be fatal.