Sleep, alcohol, and quality of life

Abstract

Alcohol disrupts sleep even in healthy individuals, and when consumed in excessive amounts for long periods, the sleep disturbance remains even after prolonged abstinence. Disturbed sleep is an important factor contributing to poor quality of life (QoL) in clinical samples of alcohol-dependent subjects as well as in population-based samples. Relapse to alcoholism, which clearly lessens QoL, is associated with disturbed sleep in both prospective treatment and population-based studies. However, these alcohol, sleep, and QoL associations found in treatment and population studies are confounded by other risky health behaviors and co-morbid medical and psychiatric diseases. Controlled laboratory studies have documented the sleep-disruptive effects of alcohol and its impairing effects on functioning the following day. The exacerbating effects of alcohol on sleep-related breathing disorders and an increased association of periodic leg movements with alcoholism have also been well documented. And each of these primary sleep disorders are known for their own impairing effects on daytime function. Finally, and most importantly from a public health perspective, studies have demonstrated that reduced sleep and increased daytime sleepiness, not due to alcohol consumption, will enhance the impairing effects of alcohol. © 2008 Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.