Alcohol has been used for centuries both for recreation and for medicinal purposes. I have a 1946 nursing dictionary that has a whole entry on the use of Brandy. It recommends Brandy for all ages for gastric ailments, shock and general malaise. It has the amounts to administer including the number of drops for new-born babies. And it that isn't enough to make your eyebrows rise up, it goes on to state that in cases of sudden collapse the Brandy should be administered by injection into the vein. Talk about a 'shot in the arm'.
Have you ever experienced a heavy lunch and several glasses of wine helping you snooze for an hour after lunch or at bedtime? Alcohol can make us sleepy and it can also make some people very active. It also diminishes inhibitions and insight, allowing people to think that they can dance like John Travolta and sing like Frank Sinatra. Karaoke bars are a shining example of this.
So how can it be that alcohol can make you sleepy and even help you get to sleep and yet can also prevent you from getting good sleep by waking you up several hours later?
When we sleep we go through several cycles of REM sleep and non-REM sleep. These cycles are very important and we need a minimum of 4 - 5 cycles every night for a restorative and restful night. When we are disturbed by noises such as a party next door, or due to illness or anxiety we miss out on several cycles and feel tired and fractious in the morning.
The consumption of alcohol increases the amount of non-REM sleep and reduces the number of full cycles. More than this it can also lead to nightmares or vivid dreams, sweating and multiple awakenings during the night. These negative effects can also be felt when alcohol is consumed in the late afternoon.
Alcohol may be able to help you get to sleep but it will then give you an interrupted and poor quality of sleep.
sweet dreams
Sarah
No comments:
Post a Comment