Are alcohol or other drugs affecting your sleep?

How important is sleep?

“Sleep is not just an off switch,” says sleep expert and Strategic Lead, National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit, Dr Rowan Ogeil.

“It is very much an active, cyclical and complex state where you go through different sleep stages including phases of ‘deep sleep’ and ‘REM sleep’, which reflects the rapid eye movements that commonly occur when we dream.”

Sleep is so important to our health that national bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council have included sleep as one of the three foundations of good health, along with a good diet and ample exercise.

“One of the important functions of sleep is that it provides our bodies and mind time for rest and recuperation,” Dr Ogeil explains. “During sleep, our bodies build proteins and enzymes, and clear toxins that have built up throughout the day.”

But it doesn’t stop there. “Sleep is also important for memory consolidation, and maintaining good cognitive performance and mood on subsequent days,” explains Dr Ogeil.

“If you haven't slept well, your ability to learn a new task can drop by up to 40%,” he says. “Previous research has also reported that one in five fatal car accidents in Victoria are associated with sleepiness or fatigue in some way.”

How do alcohol and other drugs affect sleep?

Many drugs affect sleep. Some, such as benzodiazepines and alcohol, can increase sleepiness. Others such as caffeine and nicotine promote vigilance or “wakefulness”. Many commonly used drugs for other health conditions also have sleepiness as a side-effect.

“It's important to talk to your doctor or health care professional if you notice any changes in your sleep after starting a new medication,” says Dr Ogeil.

Drugs can affect our sleep in many ways, including how quickly we fall asleep, our perception of how much we slept or how restful and refreshing a sleep phase was.

“Alcohol and other drugs including sleep aids can also affect the body’s underlying sleep architecture (those cycles of REM and non-REM), and how well the body clock is synchronised with the external environment,” Dr Ogeil explains.

Individual factors can also influence how alcohol or a drug affects you. For example, if you have been using a drug in the past, you may have built up tolerance to its effects so its impact on sleep may be different to someone using a drug for the first time.

The amount you take and the time you take the drug in relation to when you go to sleep can also influence how the drug affects the quality of your sleep.

What’s wrong with using alcohol or sleep aids to help us sleep?

Many people report using drugs to help regulate their sleep each night, or their alertness the following day, which is one reason why Turning Point is actively involved in sleep research and education.

The reasons people use these also differ depending on circumstances.

“Some people, including shift-workers, may turn to sleep aids to help them fall asleep or remain asleep,” says Dr Ogeil. “Others may seek help from drugs to address a disorder that affects sleep, such as anxiety, rumination or other symptoms of trauma.”

Sedative drugs will at best only work short term, in line with their recommended use by regulatory bodies. While these drugs may be good at helping you fall asleep, they also affect the quality of your sleep.

“Alcohol can help people fall asleep faster, especially in someone who rarely has it. However, using alcohol can also cause the sleep episode to ‘fragment’,” Dr Ogeil explains.

In other words, alcohol can disrupt the normal cyclical sleeping rhythm between deep sleep and REM sleep. REM sleep is often suppressed by alcohol in the first half of the night and it will then become overexpressed in the second half.

The story doesn't end there. Alcohol may worsen other sleep complaints, for example, it makes obstructive sleep apnea worse, and snoring is likely to increase as well.

What can we do to get a good night’s sleep?

“One key message is that sleep is a fundamental experience that cannot just be reduced to a time spent sleeping, but also involves timing and quality considerations,” says Dr Ogeil.

“If you are reliant on an alarm clock, if you take a long time to wake up in the morning, if you are constantly tired and need a lot of stimulants such as caffeine to function well during the day, these can be signs that you're not sleeping particularly well, even if you've spent a long time in a bed,” he says. 

The good news is that help is available.

“There are many common sleep disorders,” says Dr Ogeil. “The nature of the sleep disturbance is important for accurate diagnosis and treatment.”

For example, the way that someone with insomnia would be treated is different from how someone with obstructive sleep apnea or a circadian rhythm disturbance would be treated.

Where can I find more information?

Both the Sleep Hub and The Sleep Health Foundation provide useful advice and resources, including a Sleep Talk Podcast, which includes experts from Australia and around the world.

“Speak to your GP or healthcare professional if you are concerned about your sleep,” Dr Ogeil says.

Most of all, he encourages everyone to prioritise sleep.

“Sleep is the most important neurobehavioral experience in your life,” he says.

Learn more about Turning Point’s work in sleep research and education. 

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