Alcohol before bed does not help you sleep

Enjoying a nightcap before bed does not help you sleep, but instead increases brain activity leading to a “significantly” disrupted night’s rest, new research shows.

Drinking alcohol before bed leads to disruptive sleep, scientists have concluded

While drinking alcohol before bed can induce drowsiness, scientists say it actually increases the activity in the frontal section of the brain and hampers the chances of deep restorative sleep.

The University of Melbourne studied 24 students, half men and half women, aged 18 to 21 and published the results in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Subjects were given either pre-sleep alcohol or a placebo so researchers could study rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep.

The findings showed that non-rapid eye movement sleep was increased while alcohol “exerted an arousal influence” on the brain and concluded that the lack of REM can also impair people’s functions upon waking and for hours after.

Dr Christian Nicholas, one of the authors of the study, said: “Similar increases in alpha-delta activity, which are associated with poor or unrefreshing sleep and daytime function, have been observed in individuals with chronic pain conditions.

“Thus, if sleep is being disrupted regularly by pre-sleep alcohol consumption, particularly over long periods of time, this could have significant detrimental effects on daytime well-being and neurocognitive function such as learning and memory processes.

“The take-home message here is that alcohol is not actually a particularly good sleep aid even though it may seem like it helps you get to sleep quicker.

“In fact, the quality of sleep you get is significantly altered and disrupted.”