Does alcohol affect REM sleep? Here’s what to know and how to fix it

Jun 20

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA

REM sleep and alcohol are more connected than you might think. Learn why your dreams get disrupted and how drinking alcohol can throw off deep sleep, as well as 10 simple ways to wake up feeling rested.

Life can be exhausting, and when you’re dealing with pressing work deadlines, stressful news alerts, and a mix of relationship obligations, you may have a drink from time to time to take the edge off.

But while alcohol can slow your thoughts down and relax your body, you might find that it also leaves you feeling even more exhausted in the morning.

What gives? Alcohol usage can lead to more fragmented sleep, with REM sleep—the stage responsible for dreaming, memory processing, and emotional regulation—taking the biggest hit.

And while nobody is expecting you to stop drinking altogether, understanding how alcohol can affect your rest may help you enjoy your evenings without sacrificing your mornings in the process. Here are a few simple and compassionate ways to drink more mindfully.

Does alcohol affect your sleep?

Alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, but simultaneously, it can hijack your natural sleep cycle. This is because that glass of wine or late-night cocktail reshapes your sleep architecture, reducing the quality and depth of your rest.

Why? Well, alcohol increases a brain chemical called GABA, which slows down neural activity and makes you drowsy. This is why you might fall asleep quickly after drinking. But behind the scenes, alcohol tends to suppress REM early in the night, and once it wears off, your brain rebounds, flooding in extra REM that can lead to vivid dreams, restlessness, or that anxious 3am jolt awake. Then, you may wake up groggy, moody, and mentally foggy.

So while alcohol might make you feel relaxed before bed, it undercuts the very stages of sleep that restore your nervous system and reset your emotional balance. Meaning your body may have slept, but your brain didn’t.

Acute effects of alcohol on sleep

Even just one or two drinks can have a noticeable impact on your sleep that night. Here are some immediate side effects of alcohol on sleep:

You fall asleep faster: Initially, alcohol increases adenosine (a brain chemical that makes you sleepy), helping you drift off quickly.
You skip or delay REM sleep: REM sleep typically occurs about 90 minutes into sleep. Alcohol pushes that back, or skips it entirely, early on.
You get more deep sleep initially: At first, alcohol increases slow-wave sleep, which is deep, restorative sleep. This might sound like a win, but it comes at a cost.
You wake up more in the second half of the night: As your body starts to metabolize the alcohol, sleep becomes lighter and more fragmented.
You may experience night sweats, dehydration, or vivid dreams. This is part of the rebound effect, where your nervous system is trying to recalibrate after being sedated. So, you wake up feeling like you slept, but not like you rested.

Chronic effects of alcohol on sleep

If drinking becomes a regular habit, the effects mentioned above start to stack up. Your sleep architecture gets entirely reprogrammed, which means that over time, chronic alcohol use can lead to the following side effects:

Persistent REM suppression: The brain not only spends less time in REM sleep, but also, the quality of that REM sleep degrades.
Shorter overall sleep duration: Even if you stay in bed for 7-8 hours, you may wake up multiple times at night or rise earlier than planned.
Increased risk of insomnia: Temporary rebound insomnia can occur when you try to cut back or stop drinking, because your body may rely on the alcohol to fall asleep.
Disrupted circadian rhythm: Alcohol can shift your internal clock, leading to delayed or inconsistent sleep-wake cycles.
Higher risk of sleep apnea: Alcohol can relax the muscles in your airway, making it more likely that you’ll experience pauses in breathing.

Long-term, this creates a vicious loop: Poor sleep leads to more drinking as a coping mechanism, which then contributes to even worse sleep. Over time, your body may become less responsive to alcohol’s sedative effects, and you’ll start drinking even more in order to feel tired. These types of chronic disruptions to your sleep cycle can impact everything from memory and mood to immune function and emotional resilience.

How to get better sleep even when you drink: 10 tips for quality rest

For many people, it’s unrealistic to say that you’ll never drink again. Instead, focus on creating a more mindful relationship with alcohol. Look to these 10 tips to help protect your sleep, even when you drink.

1. Give yourself a buffer

Ideally, you want to stop drinking about 3-4 hours before bed. Your liver processes roughly one standard drink per hour, so if you go to bed while your blood alcohol level is still rising or peaking, your brain’s sleep cycle will get disrupted.

Try this doable shift: If dinner’s at 8pm, stop drinking by 8:30pm. You’ll still enjoy the night, and your body will have time to get through the bulk of the metabolism process before you sleep.

2. Pace your drinks

Instead of having several drinks back-to-back, consider slowing down. This will help your body keep up, which can reduce the alcohol spike that causes deeper sleep disruptions later at night.

Consider this: Follow up every alcoholic drink with a full glass of water. Not only does it slow you down, but it also helps with hydration.

3. Eat something substantial before or while drinking

Drinking on an empty stomach accelerates absorption, spikes your blood alcohol content, and makes sleep fragmentation worse. However, eating something, even if it’s light, can moderate that spike and reduce the severity of alcohol’s impact on your REM sleep.

What to eat: Aim for protein, fat, and fiber-rich foods, such as grilled chicken and quinoa, cheese and crackers, or a hearty veggie wrap.

4. Avoid the nightcap trap

Many times, people have just one more drink to help them fall asleep… but that’s a big mistake. Alcohol’s initial sedative effect wears off in a few hours, leading to REM rebound, vivid dreams, and frequent wake-ups. So that last drink you had might just be the one waking you up at 3am.

A better wind-down option: Instead of more alcohol, try having some chamomile tea or a small snack like almonds or toast with peanut butter. You can still create a calming ritual without drinking.

💙 A soothing meditation, like Drifting Off with Gratitude with Tamara Levitt, is another way to soothe yourself to sleep.

5. Keep your sleep environment calm and consistent

Alcohol makes your brain more sensitive to sleep disruptions, so help your body out by keeping your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool. A calm sleep setting can help you fall back to sleep faster.

Pro tips: Use blackout curtains, a white noise machine, or a sleep mask. Set your thermostat to around 65°F (18°C), and keep water nearby so it’s easily accessible if you wake up thirsty. If you need even more ideas, check out these 10 essential habits for a restful night’s sleep.

6. Know your limits

Everyone has a personal threshold where alcohol starts substantially affecting sleep. Whether it’s three drinks or one, knowing what your tipping point is will help you make more conscious decisions.

Use a log: Take notes for a week or two about how much you drank, when you stopped, and how you slept. Patterns usually emerge fast, and they’re empowering to notice.

7. Hydrate well before bed

Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it dehydrates you. This is what can lead to that dreaded hangover in the morning. Drinking water helps, but avoid overdoing it, or you’ll keep waking up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Balance it out: Try a glass of water with electrolytes or coconut water about an hour before bed. Then, stop.

8. Give your nervous system extra care on drinking days

Since alcohol can increase heart rate and stress hormones later in the night, it helps to counterbalance this effect with calming rituals. These can help cue your body for rest, even after you’ve had a few drinks.

Some supportive rituals: Try doing a wind-down meditation or breathwork before bed, listening to a Sleep Story to calm down, taking a warm bath or shower to relax your body, or practicing gentle stretches or yoga poses like legs up the wall or child’s pose. Here are 10 breathwork routines for sleep.

💙 Looking for a nostalgic Sleep Story? Check out Step by Step to Sleep with New Kids On The Block.

9. Balance your week

If you drink more heavily on weekends, your sleep may suffer for a few nights. Try balancing that out with earlier bedtimes, extra hydration, and sober days during the week.

Be realistic: It’s not possible to have a perfect night’s sleep every single night, so think of it in terms of averages. A few mindful choices throughout the week can help your body recover and stabilize faster from those heavier nights.

10. Know that support is out there

When drinking becomes routine, sleep disruptions can pile up. Other side effects can include fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, and burnout. If you’re noticing these chronic effects, it might be time to pause and reassess.

You don’t have to do it alone: There are supportive, judgment-free ways to explore your relationship with alcohol, including cutting back, taking breaks, and reaching out for help. Therapy, community groups, and digital tools can also offer guidance and relief if you think you need it.

💙 Practice adding more mindfulness to your life with Tamara Levitt’s Breaking Habits Series.

Alcohol REM sleep FAQs

Does alcohol affect REM sleep?

It can. While alcohol may initially help you fall asleep faster, it tends to suppress REM sleep in the first half of the night. REM is the sleep stage in which your brain processes emotions, consolidates memories, and dreams. Alcohol disrupts that process by delaying REM onset and shortening its duration.

Then, once alcohol’s sedative effect has worn off, your brain can overcompensate by flooding in extra REM sleep as a rebound effect, which could then lead to intense dreams or restlessness. So even if you log eight hours, the quality of your sleep takes a hit.

How many hours before bed should I stop drinking to save my REM sleep?

The general recommendation is to stop drinking at least 3-4 hours before you plan to go to bed. This gives your body time to process most of the alcohol before you hit the deeper and more REM-rich phases of sleep.

Still, it’s worth noting that we all metabolize alcohol at slightly different rates, depending on factors like age, body weight, liver health, and how much food is in your stomach, so you may have to stop even earlier. Try out a few cutoff times and see which one works best for you.

Can I drink and still get good REM sleep somehow?

It’s possible, but it requires a bit of strategy. Limiting how much and when you drink makes the biggest difference. One or two drinks earlier in the evening, paired with food and plenty of water, is much less disruptive than multiple drinks closer to bedtime.

Keeping a consistent sleep schedule and prioritizing calming bedtime routines can also support better overall sleep quality. That said, if you regularly drink during the evening, there may always be some compromise on your REM. The goal isn’t perfection, though. It’s awareness and balance.

What is the alcohol sleep rebound effect?

The alcohol sleep rebound effect happens when the brain tries to catch up on the REM sleep it lost during the first part of the night. After the alcohol is metabolized and its sedative effects wear off, the brain floods with more REM activity than usual.

This can lead to vivid dreams, nightmares, sweating, or frequent wakeups, especially in the second part of the night. As a result, you may feel more emotionally raw or mentally foggy the next day, even if you technically slept through the night.

How long does it take REM sleep to recover after drinking?

This usually depends on both the amount you drink and the frequency. After a single night of moderate drinking, your REM sleep typically rebounds within a night or two of sober rest.

Heavy or regular alcohol use, though, can cause REM suppression to become more persistent. In that case, full recovery may take several nights (or even weeks) of consistent, alcohol-free sleep. The good news is that the brain is remarkably resilient, so giving it even short stretches of sleep without alcohol, screens, or stress overload can make a noticeable difference in how rested and emotionally steady you feel.

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Calm Editorial Team