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here are all sorts of things that can
impact our sleep – a late-night cup
of coffee, spending too long scrolling
through Instagram in bed, or a bad case
of Sunday-night anxiety. And, added
to that list should also be a glass of wine or two.
Many of us know how alcohol can make us feel
drowsy or tired, and a significant number of us
actually use its sedative effects to help us get to sleep
on a regular basis. But as research into the subject
continues to grow, experts are warning that drinking
can impact the quality and quantity of our slumber
in ways we’re probably not aware of.
Aggie Connor is a sober coach and the founder of
Fresh and Fab (freshandfab.co.uk) in Southsea. She
offers lifestyle coaching and advice to those who want
to give up alcohol and has seen how drinking can
influence our night-time routines.
“A lack of good quality sleep is a big problem for
around 90 percent of all the people I work with,” she
explains. “For many of them, the issue gets resolved
relatively quickly when they start to reduce their
alcohol intake, but the effect it can have on their
physical and emotional health is very noticeable.”
As a former binge drinker herself, Aggie has also
experienced this first-hand. “The quality of my sleep
was horrendous – on those evenings when I drank
I would just pass out,” she says. “I wouldn’t even call
it sleeping. My body was working hard to filter the
poison out during the night, and so I wasn’t giving it
the chance to rest and recuperate. It meant I’d wake
up feeling really shattered and anxious as a result.”
But it’s not just moderate and heavy drinkers that
can suffer. Research published in the journal JMIR
Mental Health suggests that even just one drink can
impair sleep quality. So, what exactly does alcohol
do to our body to impact it in this way?Behind closed eyes
“Alcohol affects the quality and the quantity of our
sleep patterns,” explains Dr Arghya Sarkhel, lead
consultant psychiatrist at the Living Mind clinic
(livingmind.co.uk) in London. “It impacts our circadian
rhythms and pushes our body out of sync.”
Multiple studies have confirmed the effect this can
have – drinking disrupts our master biological clock,
limits the production of melatonin (also known as the
sleep hormone), elevates levels of adenosine (which
makes us feel sleepy when we’ve been awake for a
long time) and forces our liver to work harder. All this
makes for a disturbed night and a sleeping pattern
that goes against the grain.
“Alcohol often has an immediate sedative effect and
reduces the time it takes for us to fall asleep,” explains
Dr Sarkhel. “However, it also suppresses REM (rapid
eye movement) sleep, which is a lighter kind of sleep.
Studies show that in the earlier stages of the night –
when the body is metabolising the alcohol consumed- people spend more time in deep, slow-wave sleep
and less time in REM.”
Aggie Connor
Aggie is a sober coach
for women and the
founder of Fresh and
Fab. To find out more visit
freshandfab.co.uk