How a nightcap may hinder rather than help ...( Many alcoholics have sleep pro...),Health

• Many alcoholics have sleep problems while actively drinking and also after they've stopped drinking.
• New research has found that recovering alcoholics' sleep problems last for many months.
• Difficulties with sleep onset appear to be more pronounced than with sleep maintenance.
• Many former alcoholics report sleep problems that predated their alcohol dependence.

Using alcohol as a sleep aid is somewhat of a paradox: although alcohol can initially help someone fall asleep, it can also disrupt sleep in the latter part of the night. Clinicians already know that alcoholics often have significant sleep problems both while actively drinking as well as after they've stopped drinking. A study in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has found that alcoholics can continue to have sleep problems for many months after they quit drinking, that problems with sleep onset may be more pronounced than with sleep maintenance, and that many former alcoholics had sleep problems that predated the onset of alcohol dependence.

"Three or more drinks will cause the average person to fall asleep sooner than usual," said Shawn R. Currie, adjunct assistant professor , cross-appointed in psychiatry and psychology at the University of Calgary, and corresponding author for the study. "However, falling asleep faster is the only real benefit of alcohol for sleep. The more prevalent, disruptive effects include more frequent awakenings, worse sleep quality; reduction of deep sleep, and earlier-than-usual waking times, leading people to feel they did not get enough sleep."

An alcoholic who is actively drinking experiences similar, but more severe, types of sleep disruptions. An alcoholic who quits drinking often experiences sleep problems in the two to six months of abstinence following withdrawal. "They take a long time to fall asleep, have problems sleeping through the night, and feel their sleep is
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14-Aug-2003