Lots of people have a little booze before bed to help them get to sleep but too much alcohol can actually do a number on the overall quality of your shut-eye. Let’s take understand the important differences between drunk sleep and sober sleep.

In our previous article, we discussed 9 things happen to your body when you booze right before your bedtime. Let us extend the topic little bit and know the reason why you will wake up early after a night of drinking.

Dosage:

One of the reasons you may find it hard to sleep after a night on the town is dosage. “Low dose” of alcohol can actually up your total sleep time while decreasing the number of instances you wake during the night. This is because the ethanol in your beverage of choice acts as a sedative, and for most people, one drink is enough to feel its effects.

“When nonalcoholics use alcohol as a sleep aid, it can improve sleep initially, but people tend to develop a tolerance for its effects quite quickly. As tolerance increases, so do your alcohol intake, which can lead to a lot more serious problems than an inability to fall asleep” says Timothy Roehrs and Thomas Roth director of research and division head, respectively, of the Sleep Disorders and Research Center in Detroit, MI.

The Rebound Effect:

Did you ever come across the term “Rebound Effect” ? The term “rebound effect” means that certain physiological variables (e.g., sleep variables, such as the amount of REM sleep) change in the opposite direction to the changes induced by alcohol and even exceed normal levels once alcohol is eliminated from the body. This effect results from the body’s adjustment to the presence of alcohol during the first half of the sleep period in an effort to maintain a normal sleep pattern. Once alcohol is eliminated from the body, however, these adjustments result in sleep disruption.

“REM Sleep – A kind of sleep that occurs at intervals during the night and is characterized by rapid eye movements, more dreaming and bodily movement, and faster pulse and breathing.”

According to Roehrs and Roth, a modest dose of alcohol (defined as inducing a Blood Alcohol Content in the range of 0.06–0.08) within an hour of bedtime may knock you right out — but it’ll exact a serious toll on your body during the second half of your normal sleep period, during what’s called a “rebound effect”

“Your deep sleep is when body restores itself, and alcohol can interfere with this,” says John Shneerson, head of Papworth Hospital’s Respiratory Support & Sleep Center.

“As the alcohol starts to wear off, your body can come out of deep sleep and back into REM sleep, which is much easier to wake from. That’s why you often wake up after just a few hours sleep when you’ve been drinking.”

You’ll want to quit hitting the bottle no less than four hours before bedtime. Easier in theory than in practice right ? Stay tuned for more health related tips and interesting things about human metabolism.

Also Read : 7 Ways To Train Your Brain For Learning Good And Healthy Habits