Alcohol ‘can negatively impact regulation of sleep patterns’

Drinking alcohol as a means of falling asleep is counter-productive due to the negative effect it can have on sleep patterns on a wider level, according to research.

Conducted by the University of Missouri, the study looked at alcohol's effects on sleep for more than five years, finding that the substance can interfere with the brain's built-in system for regulating a person's need for sleep.

Though it is a powerful somnogen, or sleep inducer, alcohol achieves this effect by altering homeostatic mechanisms to cause imminent sleep, but since this shifts the natural sleep period, the individual may experience disrupted sleep.

Moreover, the substance is a diuretic that increases the need to go the bathroom and causes the person to wake up. Alcohol withdrawal, meanwhile, interferes with regular patterns ever further, eventually leading to insomnia.

Study author Dr Pradeep Sahota, chair of the University of Missouri School of Medicine's department of neurology, said: "Based on our results, it's clear that alcohol should not be used as a sleep aid. Alcohol disrupts sleep and the quality of sleep is diminished."

Drinking to excess is known to have a wide variety of negative health consequences, including alcohol poisoning, cirrhosis of the liver and destructive behaviour.