Drinking over the guided daily amount and Sleep Problems

Recent surveys have shown that those who are exceeding their daily intakes of alcohol could be severely reducing the amount of sleep they are having during the night.

The reduction of sleep and sleep quality can be down to two main reasons:

• The loss of water due to the alcohol preventing the release of a hormone that tells the kidneys to reabsorb water into the body. Thus creating the hangover headache and frequent trips to the toilet during the night.
• The disruption of REM sleep which is greatly important to our sleeping pattern. Once intoxicated you will find that you fall into a deep sleep and often miss out REM sleep until the alcohol has passed through your system. This then disrupts your sleeping pattern and you will often awake to find that you feel un-refreshed and fatigued.
• Many of us are unaware of the effect that alcohol can have on our bodies and wrongly assume that drinking before bed helps us get off to sleep better. Whilst alcohol does induce sleep in most cases it is far less beneficial for our health. If you are drinking over the guided amount several times a week then you could be seriously damaging your health. This is not only due to the alcohol abuse of your body but also the affect that the alcohol intake could be having on your sleep health. If your sleep pattern is frequently disrupted with alcohol intake then your body will be constantly trying to catch up on lost sleep, which will then leave you feeling tired, un-alert and irritable.

Know your Guided Daily Amounts:

Men – no more than 4 units of alcohol per day. (Two pints of beer).

Women – no more than 3 units of alcohol per day. (Two large glasses of wine).

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