How Does Alcohol Affect Sleep Apnea? 8 Risks

The first step is to see the experienced Silent Night Therapy sleep team for a complimentary review of your sleep habits and lifestyle. Relief from your poor sleep could be as simple as adjusting your nightly routine and losing a few pounds. If you are planning on drinking alcohol, do your best to consume it earlier in the day, and try to avoid alcohol use in the hours before trying to go to bed.

Mark’s goal is to provide a safe environment where distractions are minimized, and treatment is the primary focus for clients and staff alike. Mark received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a minor in Economics from the University of Rhode Island. John’s key responsibilities include maintaining the day-to-day operations from both a clinical and housing perspective. John’s goal is to monitor every department to ensure proper policies and procedures are in place and client care is carried out effortlessly.

Alcohol Impacts the Sleep Cycle

Before we dive into the reason why you snore when you drink alcohol, it’s important to understand how alcohol affects your body in the first place. To start, alcohol usually starts to affect the body within ten to twenty minutes after consumption. In general, if you have difficulty sleeping or believe you have sleep apnea, you should avoid drinking less than three hours before bedtime. Don’t forget to use your sleep apnea treatment, particularly after drinking. CPAP therapy can help keep your airways open during sleep with gentle air pressure. This is particularly important after drinking alcohol, as your airways may relax even more than normal.

With the right CPAP device and a healthy diet, you’ll soon forget about all your worries and woes. In contrast, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep https://soberhome.net/ is light and often characterized by movement in the eyes. The body seems to require this type of sleep as well in order to be fully rested.

How Sleep Works

Alcohol reduces activity in the brain and central nervous system, which can make CSA worse by slowing a person’s breathing. Drinking alcohol may also contribute to sleep apnea, a condition marked by repeated breathing disruptions during sleep. Alcohol can affect people with both types of sleep apnea, known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and central sleep apnea (CSA). Daytime fatigue can cause you to fall asleep at work or school and make it more likely to get in vehicle or workplace accidents.

• In this article, we will discuss the all-too-common complications that arise when sleep apnea and drinking alcohol are combined.
• Alcohol use disorder is a medical condition where a person has difficulty controlling or stopping drinking alcohol despite negative social, occupational, or health consequences.
• Drinking alcohol can worsen your snoring and increase your risk of sleep apnea.
• Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder that affects your breathing at night.
• Now, combine that with any one of the comorbidities linked to sleep apnea, such as obesity, hypertension, and heart disease.

However, by taking steps to reduce alcohol intake and avoid other triggers like sleeping on your back, you can help reduce the severity of your symptoms and improve the quality of your sleep. It doesn’t matter if you have one drop of alcohol or several glasses. The tiniest amount can impact your sleep and cause you to snore at night. If you find yourself snoring every time you drink alcohol, it’s no coincidence.

Ask The Sleep Doctor

According to this report, individuals who consume higher amounts of alcohol are 25% more likely to develop sleep apnea compared to those who do not drink at all or only drink occasionally. Research in adults over age 50 found heavy drinkers have a 64% greater risk of insomnia, while less frequent binge drinkers are 35% more likely to develop insomnia than nondrinkers. Binge drinking is defined as five or more alcoholic drinks for males or four or more for females on the same occasion—enough to raise your blood alcohol concentration to 0.08% or higher. Forest plot of alcohol consumption and the risk of OSA; subgroup analysis based on high vs low/middle income countries. Forest plot of the association between levels of alcohol consumption in people with and without OSA.

They might be able to recommend treatment or options for a potential alcohol use disorder. If you’re dealing with challenges in stopping drinking, consider contacting an addiction counselor to learn more about your treatment options and the best way to seek recovery. The muscles in the back of the throat close faster in an intoxicated person than a sober person and explains why someone might only snore, or snore louder, when they drink. The more you drink, the more relaxed the tissues and muscles become, and the louder you will snore.

STOP-Bang Score for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

While this demonstrates a correlation, it does not necessarily prove that alcohol itself causes OSA. Doctors found that this condition (which includes high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, high blood sugar, and a larger waistline) can lead to a higher risk of heart disease. However, heavy drinking can counteract some of these benefits, leading to fragmented, unrefreshing sleep even after exercise. Alcohol also suppresses the production of hormones in the body that help regulate sleep, including melatonin. Melatonin is often referred to as the sleep hormone, as it increases when it gets dark outside, signaling that it is time for sleep.

For the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from sleep apnea, alcohol can worsen the severity of this sleep health disorder. The problem with using alcohol to treat insomnia is that it’s effects may be reduced as a tolerance is developed, leading to excessive alcohol consumption. Additionally, while alcohol consumption at night may help you fall asleep faster, it may also cause daytime sleepiness or have other performance-impairing effects.

It may help with mood and memory, as well as learning, so disrupting the REM cycle may cause a few different issues for your life and body. Children with narcolepsy often have disrupted nighttime sleep (DNS), which could lead to other effects, such as memory issues. Sleep apnea is not the only breathing issue that arises eco sober house complaints during sleep! There are a few different conditions that fall into this category, and alcohol affects each one. In the case of OSA, this stream of air helps to keep the airway open. For people with Central Sleep Apnea, it allows the lungs to fill with air despite not having total control over their respiratory muscles.

We’ve covered the effects of using electronics before bed in several blog posts (check out the most recent one here). Click HERE for important FDA information about risks and contraindications for treatment. It’s important to talk to our provider about your specific situation and strategies to manage SA and alcohol. Together, both of these things make you more likely to rely on mouth breathing which can make Obstructive Sleep Apnea more likely. Even though no one knows what the exact function of sleep is, research has shown that not getting enough of it can cause serious health problems. From an initial 4378 studies identified from the literature searches, 3639 had potentially eligible titles and abstracts, and 178 had potentially eligible full texts.

When these muscles relax the airway will collapse, leading to sleep apnea and restless nights. Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder that affects your breathing at night. But if you have sleep apnea, the muscles in your airway narrow more than they should.

Alcohol use actually exacerbates your risk for sleep apnea symptoms and makes it harder for your body to breathe while sleeping. Alcohol can actually relax the muscles in your throat making it more likely for your airway to collapse causing an obstruction while you are trying to sleep at night. Few studies have measured the impact of CPAP therapy on the effects of alcohol on sleep apnea. Most studies assessed alcohol consumption by self-report using a standardized questionnaire; one study measured alcohol dependence used International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) codes [13]. The remaining five studies did not provide additional information about how alcohol was quantified [25], [28], [29], [42], [46].

When you stop breathing, your body forces you to wake up and take a breath. This can cause low oxygen levels in your body, sleep deprivation, and more. If you think you have SA, take our sleep apnea risk quiz or order a sleep apnea test from our clinic. SA is a serious condition that can increase your risk for serious and even life-threatening conditions.

No orders for drugs or pharmaceutical products may be placed through this website. Another issue with drinking alcohol when you have sleep apnea is that it can make your symptoms worse. Researchers highlight that further studies examining the long-term effects of drinking are warranted.