SLEEP | ALCOHOL
Healthy from the Start Resources for Shiftworkers
What we put into our bodies can impact our sleep more than many people realise.
A few substances to be mindful of are caffeine, alcohol, sleep medication, and recreational drugs.
In general, what we put into our bodies, and when we consume it, can impact the quality and duration of our sleep. You can read more about nutrition and its relationship with sleep, health, and wellbeing as a shiftworker here. Below we cover off some of the substances that can be most impactful to your sleep: caffeine, alcohol, sleep medications and recreational substances.
Alcohol acts as a depressant on your nervous system, which can make you feel sleepy, leading some people to think of it as a sleep aid. However, this perceived benefit is misleading. While alcohol can speed up the onset of sleep, it significantly limits the quality of your overall sleep cycle, particularly by reducing REM sleep (Stage 4) (71) and causing frequent awakenings, especially toward the end of your sleep period. Given that REM sleep is crucial for emotional regulation and cognitive function, this disruption can lead to next-day grogginess, leaving you feeling unrefreshed and worse for wear after drinking (71). Also, habitual drinking can lead to consistently poor sleep quality and increased sleep disturbances over time (72). That’s why it’s important to avoid alcohol at least 4 hours before sleep to reduce the impacts it has on your rest (71,72).
While alcohol may initially help you fall asleep, it disrupts the quality of your sleep by affecting deep sleep and REM stages, leaving you feeling unrefreshed the next day. For better sleep, limit alcohol intake and avoid it altogether in the hours leading up to bedtime.
Beyond its impact on sleep, alcohol consumption is also linked to various health issues.
To maintain overall health and wellbeing, it's recommended for adults to limit alcohol to no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any day, with less being better (73).
