A hangover after a night of heavy drinking can leave you feeling tired and worn out. You may have a pounding headache, feel nauseated, and be extremely dehydrated. Given these unpleasant symptoms, you’d think falling asleep would be easy. However, many people find that sleep just won’t come when they’re hungover. So why is it so hard to get some much-needed rest when you’re hungover? There are a few key reasons.
Dehydration
One of the main causes of hangover symptoms is dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it makes you urinate more frequently. This leads to the loss of important electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium. The lack of electrolytes can make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Drinking alcohol also inhibits the normal function of the hormone that regulates water levels in the body, known as antidiuretic hormone. This leads to further dehydration.
Being severely dehydrated also causes your blood volume to drop. This leads to a reduction in blood flow throughout the body, including to the brain. Your sleep-wake cycle relies heavily on adequate blood flow to the brain, so dehydration can throw it off.
Changes in Brain Chemistry
Alcohol significantly alters the brain’s chemistry, which can make it hard to fall and stay asleep when hungover.
Alcohol boosts the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, which has a sedative effect that promotes sleepiness while you’re still intoxicated. Once the alcohol wears off, GABA levels crash below normal. Having very low GABA leaves some people feeling agitated and overstimulated, making it tough to relax into sleep.
Alcohol also messes with melatonin production in the body. Melatonin is the primary hormone that controls your sleep-wake cycle. Booze can blunt the normal nightly rise in melatonin. This interferes with your ability to fall and stay asleep.
Alcohol also temporarily spikes the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. When the alcohol wears off, these neurotransmitters dip below normal levels. Having low dopamine and serotonin is associated with insomnia and restlessness.
The changes alcohol causes in these important brain chemicals make the transition from intoxication to sobriety difficult when it comes to sleep. Your brain is missing many of the key players it relies on to regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
Disrupted Circadian Rhythm
Your circadian rhythm, also known as your sleep-wake cycle, controls when you feel sleepy and awake each day. It’s generally set by your exposure to natural daylight. When alcohol is in your system, it can temporarily disrupt your body’s internal clock.
Drinking late into the night keeps your brain active and delays the normal onset of sleepiness. Once the alcohol leaves your system a few hours later, your body could still feel it’s time to be awake because of your disrupted circadian rhythm. This makes it very hard to fall asleep at sunrise when your body thinks it’s time to start the day.
Binge drinking can also flip your sleep schedule around altogether. For example, if you pass out from day drinking and sleep through the afternoon into the night, you may wake up wide awake at 2am. At this time, your brain thinks it’s daytime based on your last exposure to light. The mismatch between your circadian rhythm and the real-world time makes falling back asleep very difficult.
Withdrawal Symptoms
For those with alcoholism, trying to sleep after a night of drinking can be made even harder by alcohol withdrawal. Symptoms like anxiety, tremors, sweating, rapid heart rate, and insomnia can develop within 8 hours after the last drink. These symptoms can make settling into restorative sleep nearly impossible without medical treatment.
Poor Sleep Quality
While alcohol may help some people initially fall asleep faster, it leads to very poor sleep quality. Instead of spending time in the deep, restorative stages of sleep that leave you feeling refreshed, you spend more time in the lighter stages. Waking up frequently throughout the night is also common while intoxicated and right after drinking.
This type of fragmented, unrefreshing sleep can leave you feeling as exhausted the next day as if you hadn’t slept at all. The lack of sleep quality from alcohol consumption can make it very difficult to fall back asleep when the initial sedative effects wear off.
Other Common Hangover Symptoms
Most of the other typical hangover symptoms can also make it hard to fall and stay asleep. Headache and muscle aches make getting comfortable difficult. Nausea, diarrhea, sweating, shaking, anxiety, and irritability all interfere with feeling relaxed enough to nod off. Your misery intensifies when you’re awake to experience these symptoms rather than getting temporary relief from sleep.
Tips for Coping with Hungover Insomnia
If you’re struggling to sleep after an evening of heavy alcohol consumption, the following strategies may help:
Rehydrate
Be sure to focus on rehydration by sipping water throughout the day. Coconut water or an oral rehydration solution can help replenish lost electrolytes. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which will further dehydrate you.
Take it Easy
Don’t plan anything too physically or mentally taxing until you’re feeling back to normal. Get plenty of rest and avoid strenuous exercise. Listen to relaxing music and practice breathing exercises.
Consider OTC or Home Remedies
Over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen or aspirin can ease headache and muscle aches. An antiemetic like Pepto-Bismol can calm nausea. Chamomile tea, magnesium supplements, or CBD oil may have mild relaxing effects.
Sleep in a Dark, Cool Room
Keep your bedroom dim and cool to block out any disruptive light or noise and prevent dehydration from sweating. Use an eye mask, blackout curtains, or a white noise machine as needed.
Be Patient with Yourself
Don’t stress about the lost sleep – just focus on slowly recovering. Naps are fine, just limit them to 30 minutes so they don’t interfere with nighttime sleep. Get back to your normal sleep routine when you’re able.
The Link Between Alcohol and Sleep
To understand why hangovers and alcohol disrupt sleep, it helps to look closely at the complicated relationship between alcohol and sleep.
Alcohol’s Sedating Effects
Alcohol’s immediate sedative effects can make you nod off more quickly. Once asleep, it keeps you in the lighter stages of sleep. It reduces time spent in slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep when dreaming occurs.
As blood alcohol content starts to fall, your sleep becomes even more fragmented. You’re likely to wake up frequently throughout the night. Using the bathroom, sweating, headaches, anxiety, and other hangover symptoms contribute to multiple awakenings.
So while alcohol may help some individuals fall asleep faster at first, this comes at the cost of sleep quality.
Alcohol Disrupts Circadian Rhythms
Research shows that alcohol influences genes involved in circadian rhythms. Circadian clocks throughout the body control daily sleep-wake and eating cycles. Alcohol appears to impair the internal timing system that tells your body when to feel sleepy or be active over a 24-hour period.
Drinking in the evening is particularly disruptive. Having alcohol in your system leads to delayed sleep onset and disrupted sleep throughout the night. Hangovers the next day continue to make it hard to get on a normal sleep schedule. Over time, the chronic sleep deprivation from alcohol can take a toll on your physical and mental health.
Alcohol Withdrawal Impacts Sleep
People with alcohol use disorder often rely on alcohol to fall asleep. Their brains become dependent on alcohol’s sedative effects. When trying to stop drinking, about 75% of people in alcohol withdrawal have insomnia. Many also experience vivid dreams and nightmares.
Brain imaging shows that people undergoing alcohol withdrawal have reduced GABA activity in the cortex and other regions. They also have altered melatonin levels. These brain changes contribute to insomnia and sleep disruptions during withdrawal. In many cases, medications or hospitalization may be needed for safe detoxification.
Impact on Health
Over time, the poor sleep caused by alcohol takes a toll on your physical and mental health in numerous ways:
– Impaired immune function and increased susceptibility to infections
– Higher risk of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease
– Worsening anxiety, depression, and cognitive function
– Increased risk of automobile accidents from drowsy driving
People also build up a tolerance to alcohol’s sedative effects over time. This leads to higher alcohol intake to feel tired, continuing the cycle of insomnia, fatigue and consumption.
When to Seek Help
While the occasional hangover disrupts sleep, it’s usually not a cause for concern on its own. However, if you regularly experience insomnia after drinking, it could point to a larger issue with alcohol. Consider seeking medical advice if you:
– Feel unable to fall asleep without alcohol on a regular basis
– Experience tremors, cold sweats, racing heart rate, or nausea when stopping alcohol use
– Notice relationship conflicts, work issues, physical injuries, or mental health changes due to alcohol
– Drink to the point of passing out or blacking out on a regular basis
Talking to your doctor can help determine if alcohol use disorder is present. If so, treatment programs and support groups are available to help change drinking habits and improve sleep in the long-term.
The Bottom Line
Hangovers and alcohol disrupt several key bodily functions involved in achieving quality sleep. Dehydration, hormone imbalances, circadian rhythm disturbances, and withdrawal symptoms can all make it challenging to fall and stay asleep when hungover. While time and rest can help you recover after the occasional night of heavy drinking, chronic alcohol use leading to insomnia merits medical attention. Seeking treatment can help break the cycle of alcohol-related sleep loss.
| Reason | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Dehydration | Loss of electrolytes and reduced blood flow to the brain |
| Changes in brain chemistry | Altered GABA, melatonin, dopamine, and serotonin levels |
| Disrupted circadian rhythms | Throws off internal clock that regulates sleep-wake cycle |
| Alcohol withdrawal | Symptoms like anxiety, sweating, tremors, insomnia |
| Poor sleep quality | Fragmented, light sleep with frequent awakenings |
| Other hangover symptoms | Headache, nausea, muscle aches, sensitivity to light/sound |
| Tip | Details |
|---|---|
| Rehydrate | Drink water, coconut water, or an electrolyte solution |
| Take it easy | Get plenty of rest and avoid strenuous activity |
| Try OTC or home remedies | Use pain relievers, antiemetics, chamomile tea, etc. |
| Sleep in a dark, cool room | Block out light, noise, and temperature extremes |
| Be patient | Don’t stress over lost sleep; resume normal sleep habits when you’re able |