Sun, sangria and sleep deprivation
As the sun comes out and restrictions have eased so we can meet up with friends again, us Brits like to combine the sunshine with a nice beer, a Pimm’s or a jug of sangria!
And as much fun as this all is… with the increase in temperature at night time and our increase in alcohol consumption… how does this affect our sleep?
Sleep is critical to our mental and physical well-being…and when you can’t sleep, you’ll do anything to be able to sleep. It affects our mood, alertness, and our physical strength because your body repairs itself while you sleep.
Whilst conducting research for her book “The alcohol experiment” A 30-day alcohol-free challenge, Annie Grace found that people’s biggest fears when giving up alcohol is they won’t be able to sleep.
What happens when we introduce alcohol into our systems? Alcohol is a chemical depressant, so it reduces the neural activity in the brain. Homeostasis is the state in our body when all our systems in our body are working correctly. When we drink, we disrupt this state, and the body must produce counter chemicals and stress hormones to restore the balance.
When we start drinking, we stimulate the pleasure centre whilst the blood alcohol is rising. As time goes on the body releases stimulants such as adrenaline and cortisol to compensate for the depressant effect. Unfortunately, the depressant wears off before the stimulants do, so it’s like we drank alcohol with a triple espresso, which still affects us later.
We potentially sleep great at first, as we enter a deep sleep for the first five hours or so, yet we don’t get into REM sleep which is crucial for our health. When we drink, we wind up with about two REM cycles of sleep as opposed to the six or seven we need.
It doesn’t matter if we have one drink, or a margarita feast our sleep will be disrupted. If we drink regularly our bodies utilise the artificial depressants to wind your body down to prepare it for sleep, disrupting your natural sleep patterns and your body may take a few days to adjust and settle back into those natural rhythms.
Have I just become the joy thief? Once we are aware of the impact then we know what’s happening and can put other measures in place to support our bodies, like avoiding caffeine after 12 or gentle exercise to help our bodies move, diets that are rich in tryptophan ( which is converted in the body to serotonin which then helps us produce melatonin, the natural sleep chemical!). And or resting in between parties!
Some people’s alcohol parts are more dominant than others and alcohol can be a real soother for a deeper level of pain…If you or someone you are close too has a dominant drinking part and wants to seek help or advice, contact your GP in the first instance or visit https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/ to find local alcohol support services.
Take good care,
Claire ❤.
