Alcohol and sleep

Alcohol might help you fall asleep, but even a couple of drinks can affect the quality of your sleep.

How alcohol affects your sleep patterns

Regular drinking can affect the quality of your sleep making you feel tired and sluggish. This is because drinking disrupts your sleep cycle.¹

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.

The alcohol in your system will mean you spend less time in the important Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep,² with the end result that you wake up feeling less refreshed. Even just a couple of drinks will have an effect.

Of course, if you’ve had a lot to drink, you may well wake up with a hangover too. So, as well as feeling tired, you might find you have a headache, or you’re more stressed and irritable.³

If you get a hangover only time will help you, but you could avoid getting one in the first place. Limiting how many alcoholic drinks you have, to just one or two drinks, and alternating with water or soft drinks, can help avoid dehydration and other symptoms of a hangover.⁴

Several sleepless nights can have an impact on your day-to-day mental function – for example, your mood, concentration, and decision-making.⁵

Drinking can cause a disturbed night’s sleep

When you drink alcohol, you may find you have to get up in the night to go to the toilet.

Because alcohol is a diuretic, it encourages the body to lose extra fluid not only in urine, but through sweat too, making dehydration worse.⁶

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ (CMO) low risk drinking guidelines recommend drinking no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days with several drink-free days and no bingeing.⁷

Having drink-free days can help – you should be sleeping better and find it easier to wake up in the morning. And the benefits go much further too – cutting back on alcohol and sticking to the UK low risk drinking guidelines is likely to lower your risk of serious diseases such as several types of cancer, heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure and stroke, and is likely to improve your overall physical and mental health.⁸

Temporary insomnia is a common side-effect of alcohol withdrawal.⁹

Why you should avoid alcohol just before bedtime

If you choose to drink alcohol, try to avoid it too close to bedtime.

Giving your body time to process the alcohol you've drunk before you go to bed can improve the quality of your sleep.¹⁰

On average it takes your body an hour to process one unit, but this can vary widely from person to person.¹¹ And the more you drink, the longer it takes – so, six units of alcohol would take the average person six hours to process.

Alcohol, snoring and sleep apnoea

Drinking can also make you snore.¹² It relaxes the muscles in your body, which means the tissue in your throat, mouth, and nose can stop air flowing smoothly, and are more likely to vibrate.

More seriously, alcohol (as well as smoking and being overweight) increases the chance you will suffer from sleep apnoea¹³ – a condition that narrows your airways and can stop you breathing properly at night.¹⁴

Without treatment, sleep apnoea can lead to type 2 diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and increase your chance of having a stroke. It may also affect your mood and concentration, and make it more likely you will have an accident because you’re tired.¹⁵

Find out more about sleep apnoea on the NHS website

As well as affecting sleep patterns, alcohol can also impact your fitness levels. Click the link to find out more, or use our Drinking Check below to get a personalised summary about your drinking risk.

Can alcohol affect sports performance and fitness levels?