American scientists from Brown University in Rhode Island studied the effects of alcohol on the structure of sleep and its impact on the quality of a person’s rest. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine To sleep.
The experiment involved thirty healthy adults who drank moderate amounts of alcohol. Volunteers underwent rigorous testing before the study, including actigraphy to monitor their sleep patterns, and were asked to maintain a stable sleep schedule in the days before the test.
For three nights, participants were given an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage before bed. The researchers tracked their sleep using polysomnography (PSG), a comprehensive recording of biophysiological changes that includes measurements of brain waves, eye movements, and muscle activity.
It turns out that drinking alcohol causes an increase in the duration of the slow wave sleep phase in the first third of the night. This phase is critical for physical recovery and memory consolidation.
But alcohol reduced REM sleep, which is associated with dreaming, memory processing and emotions. Shorter REM sleep indicates that alcohol interferes with the natural sleep cycle, potentially affecting mental function and emotional health.
Such disturbances can disrupt the restorative quality of sleep, leading to feelings of fatigue the next day and impaired cognitive functions.
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