If you plan to grab a drink or few this weekend consider this – you may be setting yourself up sleep loss. This warning shouldn’t come as a surprise for readers of the Sleep Education Blog, but there’s more. Women appear to be more prone to alcohol-related sleep problems than men, a new study reports.
Researchers wanted to learn how gender impacts the morning “rebound effect” from alcohol. Generally, you’ll have no problem falling asleep initially after drinking. After several hours you may wake up and be unable to get back to sleep. This may throw off your sleep schedule for days.
A group of 59 female and 34 male subjects drank either alcohol to the point of drunkenness or non-alcoholic beverages. Results show the women who consumed alcohol woke up more often, and lost more sleep than men.
The authors of the study believe differences in alcohol metabolism may explain why women have it worse, however more research is needed.
Friday, February 18, 2011
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1 comment:
Very interesting, indeed. I am a female with narcolepsy with cataplexy. In my first few years of experiencing cataplexy (before I knew what it was and before I got a diagnosis and treatment), I noticed that my cataplexy was significantly worse on the days following a night out drinking. I didn't understand why at the time.
Now, of course, I don't drink much at all. My sleep needs all the help it can get!
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