Why Does Alcohol Make You Wake Up Early?

[stAr shAdow nEt]

Okay yeah so ive noticed that sometimes when im staying up late all night and drinking a good amount that when i get tired and decide to call it a night and goto bed i always seem to wake up early in the morning.

Does this happen to anyone else? Why is this?

For example: yesterday i had been awake from 4am cause i had to work, when i got home around 2pm i started drinking beers and continued to drink all throughout the afternoon and into the late evening till around 3am. I proably drank almost 18 beers. By 3am, i was tired as fuck and knew that i needed to sleep for at least 8 hours to rest, yet i went to bed and work up 5 hours later. When i woke up i didnt feel tired or sleepy.

Anyone know why this is?

[BA]

[fairnymph]

I dont get this myself, but I think it might be due to the type of sleep that you get, which isn't deep or 'good' sleep usually -- at least not if you've had a 'good amount' of alcohol.

[Medi57]

are you drinking alcopops?

[deroxor]

I get the same thing too. but its mostly because im dehydrated and i got a wierd sick feeling in my stomache that im just too irritated to sleep.

[Dr. J]

I read somewhere that your body wakes you up once you're no longer drunk...

Don't know if this is true, but this also happens to me...I'll go to bed spinning drunk and wake up at like 6 or 7am.

[AmorRoark]

Because it's difficult to get into 'deep sleep' while drunk... thus you're in REM a lot of the time. Of course, REM is very light sleeping and waking up is easy.

[fairnymph]

^^^
Thanks for the uh, more sophisticated explanation.

[fizzygirl]

Umm...a little backwards...you actually don't get into deep sleep (that's right), but you DON'T reach REM stages of sleep...those are the deep stages. Because of that often wake up not feeling rested and also have some problems with memory consolidation.

[DarthMom]

very true. I am a bit of a lush and experience the same thing. Always wake a few hours into the sleep. Have read before it is because when the alcohol leaves your system, your blood sugar drops and you wake up. I sleep so soundly nights I do not drink (most of the time at least)

[sonic]

fizzygirl is right. REM sleep is the deepest state of sleep where your dreams occur.

[huntmich]

I get the same thing, I can't sleep in past 9 oclock after the heaviest nights of drinking. But if I smoke a bowl before I go to sleep, I won't wake up until 4pm.

[MynameisnotDeja]

Originally posted by stAr shAdow nEt
Okay yeah so ive noticed that sometimes when im staying up late all night and drinking a good amount that when i get tired and decide to call it a night and goto bed i always seem to wake up early in the morning.

Does this happen to anyone else? Why is this?

For example: yesterday i had been awake from 4am cause i had to work, when i got home around 2pm i started drinking beers and continued to drink all throughout the afternoon and into the late evening till around 3am. I proably drank almost 18 beers. By 3am, i was tired as fuck and knew that i needed to sleep for at least 8 hours to rest, yet i went to bed and work up 5 hours later. When i woke up i didnt feel tired or sleepy.

Anyone know why this is?

YES! This totally happens to me. I absolutely cannot sleep past 8 or 9 oclock after a night of heavy drinking. So "sleeping it off" doesnt work..its impossible. Im wide awake, miserable, and theres nothing I can do about it. I wish I was one of those people who lounges in bed the entire day after drinking.

[Delta9]

Like DarthMom said, it is most likely due to an extreme drop in blood sugar that occurs a few hours after you stop drinking. That was the explanation I was given in a substance abuse class I took in school anyway. Apparantly if you eat something before you go to bed your blood sugar won't drop as much and you won't wake up early.

[Blowmonkey]

Naw, fizzygirl is spot on.

[michael]

i'm tired anymore of writing out the reasons why. suffice to say alcohol interferes with the sleep process.

[lokki]

maybe its cause you gotta go to bathroom badly.. to take a leak or puke, thats what usually wakes me up early in the morning if ive been drinking heavily last nite

[jus blaze]

Usually I have to get up early to pee or or because I'm really thirsty (dehydration goes along with drinking..)

[Strawberry_lovemuffin]

It's a combination of your blood sugar level dropping as the alcohol is metabolised and interference with the REM stage of sleep.

[meesa]

this always happens to me too.... But also after a night of rolling.. I can't sleep past 8am...even if i go to sleep around 5 am... Guess it's for the exact same resons: i can't get into REM...

[DigitalDuality]

i've always wondered this too... the thing that sucks though is waking up that fucken early and having to deal with the hangover that fucken sooner...

[fairnymph]

So if I still sleep like a baby even if I was stupid drunk the night before, does that mean I have super-REM sleep?!

[fizzygirl]

Nope...you probably just get lots of the other stages....I wouldn't be surprised if you showed some sort of REM rebound over the span of the next few days. I sleep really long and heavy when I've been drinking, like for 10-12 hours, but I find myself needing more sleep over the next few nights too...

[ebola?]

Hmmm...it was my understanding that alcohol inhibited REM (inducing a rebound later in the night or the next night), but increased stage 4...it looks like I am mistaken about the latter effect.
...
The reason you wake up early is actually because
1. some of alcohol's subsequent metabolites are stimulating (in a bad way). I wish I knew the neuropharmacology of said metabolites.
2. There is a neurological rebound from the depressant effects of alcohol on NMDA sites and decreased GABAnergic activity (in the wake of alcohols previous stimulation thereof).

ebola

[SardonicNihilist]

that, and your dehydrated as fuck, and need to piss and/or drink some non-alcoholic liquids.

I also get the abovementioned phenoena. Usually pass out in front of the TV with no intention of actually going to bed, but will wake up at like 6am, then go to bed, and struggle to get out of BED at the usual 10am or so.