Save this story Save Story Save this story You’ve probably heard that alcohol and sleep don’t go well together. But that doesn’t change the fact that having a drink before bed can help knock you out quicker. We’ve all seen that guy who goes hard at the bar only to be blissfully snoring on his friend’s couch a few hours later. Maybe you’ve even been that guy.
But the relationship between alcohol and sleep is more nuanced than most people think. If alcohol is “bad” for sleep, why does it lead to falling asleep faster? How much does one or two drinks impact sleep versus three or four? And if you’re used to relying on a nightcap to make you feel sleepy, how can you wean yourself off of that habit?
Considering just how important sleep is to our well-being, it’s worth knowing how a substance you consume regularly impacts it. We asked sleep doctors to explain exactly that—and share tips for how to get better shuteye without the help of booze.
There’s a reason why so many people believe that alcohol can help you sleep better. Initially, it does make you drowsy and relaxed. “Alcohol is tricky. It helps you relax and helps you fall asleep quicker, but it deprives you of good quality sleep,” says Maha Alattar, MD , an associate professor and the division of sleep medicine chief at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Alattar explains that the body won’t relax enough to fall asleep until you feel completely safe. It’s a biological protective mechanism leftover from when falling asleep left us vulnerable to attacks out in the wild. Here’s the modern-day conundrum. If your head hits the pillow and you start worrying about everything you have to do the next day—or your mind is still stimulated from whatever you just saw on your phone or TV—you’re not relaxed enough for your body to allow you to fall asleep. Alcohol is the cheat code: It sedates you and makes you feel less anxious, which your body then perceives as feeling safe.
Sleep doctor Christopher Allen, MD, says that this is why so many people believe alcohol helps with sleep. But he emphasizes that this isn’t actually the case. “ Falling asleep faster doesn’t mean you’re sleeping better,” he says. Dr. Allen explains that there’s a difference between being sedated and being asleep. He says that being asleep means cycling through all the important sleep stages, like REM and deep sleep . Sedation is a drug-induced state of deep relaxation, which is different from sleep. Alcohol, Dr. Allen says, leads to sedation, not sleep.
Nathan Walker, MD, a neurologist at UNC Health specializing in sleep disorders, explains that as the night goes on, alcohol’s sedative effect wears off. That’s why it’s so common to wake up around 2 a.m. after drinking. The problem with alcohol, he says, is that it disrupts sleep in the second part of the night, which leads to not getting enough REM or deep sleep. “That’s why people wake up in the middle of the night and also why they wake up the next morning not feeling rested at all,” he says.
When you repeatedly miss out on quality REM and deep sleep, your brain health suffers. “REM and deep sleep are when we consolidate memories,” Dr. Walker says. This is likely why long-term sleep deficiency increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease, as a 2022 scientific study in Frontiers in Neurology suggests.
Dr. Alattar says that another reason why REM and deep sleep are important is because it’s when the brain clears out toxins. “Sleep is a dishwasher in a sense,” she says. “When you have fragmented sleep—which alcohol can cause—then toxins start accumulating in the brain, and that can lead to long-term problems, such as Alzheimer’s.”
The long-term impact of not getting enough sleep is pretty sobering intel—enough to lead to wondering if having one drink every night can be as problematic as three or more drinks a night. Dr. Allen says that while even just one drink can impact sleep, he says how much of an impact alcohol has on sleep depends on several different factors, including how much alcohol you consumed, what your tolerance is, and how close to bedtime you’re having it. The more you drink and the closer to bedtime it is, the greater an impact it will have.
Whether you mean it to or not, it’s easy for alcohol to become a regular part of winding down after work. It’s part of every social occasion. It pairs well with dinner. It’s your reward for everything you just dealt with for the last eight hours. Here’s what all three sleep doctors want everyone to know : Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol occasionally is likely not going to do any lasting damage. But drinking every night will—especially if you’re relying on it to relax before bedtime.
Dr. Walker explains that, over time, the brain can get used to relying on alcohol to fall asleep. If you’re used to having a couple of drinks every night before bed, it can become harder to fall asleep without it. For most people, Dr. Walker says that this problem can right itself after a few days of not drinking. But if you excessively drink alcohol, over time, it can lead to insomnia that takes months—or even longer—to treat. “In some cases, the impact can be permanent because you’ve permanently altered your brain chemistry,” he says.
In fact, Dr. Walker says that insomnia is a major reason why people in recovery for alcoholism relapse. For people used who drink a lot often, it can be very challenging to fall asleep without it.
This may seem obvious, but all three sleep doctors say that the first step is to stop drinking. Resist the urge to pour yourself a drink to help you sleep. Next, Dr. Allen says to put into practice all the important sleep hygiene habits you’ve likely heard before. Don’t look at screens in the evening. Dim the lights. Take a hot shower. Avoid eating a big meal close to bedtime. Make sure your bedroom is cool and dark.
Remember, the reason why alcohol initially leads to falling asleep faster is that it’s the cheat code to making the body feel safe. Because of this, Dr. Alattar says it’s important to have a routine that helps you relax in other ways, such as reading, listening to a podcast, or doing some light stretches . It definitely doesn’t mean checking your work email or watching the news.
If it’s been a few weeks and you’re still struggling to fall asleep without alcohol, that’s when the experts say it’s time to schedule an appointment with a sleep doctor. They can check for any underlying health conditions you may not know you have or help you come up with a solution tailored to your exact needs. For example, Dr. Walker says that cognitive behavioral therapy is often helpful for people with alcohol-induced insomnia.
What’s most important to remember is that alcohol leads to sedation, which is definitely not the same as quality sleep. Occasional, moderate drinking is fine. But when alcohol becomes a nightly ritual, it’s bad for your brain.
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