Sleep abnormalities are associated with the use of drugs such as alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and opioids. These abnormalities can be bidirectional, with sleep problems increasing the risk of developing substance use disorders, and acute and chronic substance use leading to acute and chronic problems with sleep. For example, while alcohol is a sedative that can help people fall asleep faster, it can also disrupt the normal sleep cycle by decreasing REM sleep. Similarly, while opioids, cannabis, and alcohol may increase sleepiness, they can also disrupt sleep. On the other hand, stimulant drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine can reduce the need for sleep, leading to increased energy and alertness. However, when the use of these drugs stops, individuals may experience a crash and sleep for long periods, but the quality of sleep is often poor.
Characteristics | Values |
---|---|
Effect on sleep | Alcohol is a sedative that helps you relax and slows down your body and brain. It can help you fall asleep more quickly, but it can also change your sleep and disrupt your normal sleep cycles. |
Cocaine and methamphetamines can reduce the need to sleep. | |
Opioids, cannabis and alcohol may increase sleepiness and also disrupt sleep. | |
Cannabis initially helps people fall asleep quickly, stay asleep and wake up rested, but these short-term benefits can result in tolerance, dependence and possible withdrawal symptoms. |
What You'll Learn
- Alcohol can disrupt sleep cycles and worsen sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia
- Opioids, cannabis, and alcohol can increase sleepiness but also disrupt sleep
- Stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine reduce the need for sleep, but can lead to crashes and poor-quality sleep when use ends
- Sleep problems can increase the risk of substance abuse, with people using drugs to achieve and maintain sleep
- Poor sleep is associated with poor decision-making skills and impulsivity, which can also contribute to substance abuse
Alcohol can disrupt sleep cycles and worsen sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia
Alcohol can have a significant impact on sleep, with its effects felt immediately and in the long term. Alcohol can disrupt the sleep cycle, delaying REM sleep and shortening the time spent in it. As a sedative, alcohol can induce a deep sleep quickly, but this throws off the first two stages of light sleep, and it can be difficult for the body to readjust during the remainder of the night. This can lead to fragmented sleep, with frequent awakenings and overall low-quality sleep.
Alcohol can also worsen sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and insomnia. For people who snore or have sleep apnea, drinking alcohol can aggravate symptoms. Alcohol causes throat muscles to relax and changes to blood vessels in the nose, leading to greater airway resistance and an increased likelihood of breathing pauses during sleep. These breathing pauses can be dangerous, especially when combined with alcohol's effect of making people harder to wake up.
Additionally, heavy alcohol use can contribute to the development of insomnia, and people with insomnia are at an increased risk of developing alcohol use disorder, as they may turn to alcohol as a sleep aid. This can create a destructive pattern where individuals drink alcohol to help them fall asleep but then experience poor sleep for the rest of the night.
Showering to Stay Awake: A Refreshing Alternative to Sleep
You may want to see also
Opioids, cannabis, and alcohol can increase sleepiness but also disrupt sleep
While opioids, cannabis, and alcohol can make you feel sleepy, they can also negatively impact your sleep quality.
Opioids
Opioids can cause issues with sleep quality, falling asleep, or conditions like sleep apnea. They can also increase the amount of deep sleep you get and decrease the amount of REM sleep. This can lead to various complications such as mood swings, stress, memory problems, and a reduction in quality of life. Long-term sleep disruptions can even cause hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic disorders.
Cannabis
Cannabis is widely used as a sleep aid, with around 70% of young adults who casually use cannabis reporting that they do so to help them sleep. It can help people with certain conditions, such as chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and multiple sclerosis, fall asleep faster, wake up less during the night, and enjoy better overall sleep quality. However, studies suggest that long-term, heavy cannabis use may lead to less time spent in deep sleep and a longer time falling asleep. It may also have health-related side effects, such as reducing the volume of grey matter in the brain and increasing the risk of chronic bronchitis.
Alcohol
Alcohol can cause frequent wakings and overall low-quality sleep. It can alter your sleep architecture by increasing the amount of deep sleep and decreasing the amount of REM sleep, especially when consumed in the hours before bedtime. Alcohol can also aggravate snoring and sleep apnea symptoms and interfere with circadian rhythms, making it harder to fall asleep at bedtime.
Sleep Solutions: Wake Up Feeling Refreshed and Energized
You may want to see also
Stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine reduce the need for sleep, but can lead to crashes and poor-quality sleep when use ends
Stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine are known to reduce the need for sleep. This is due to the dramatic boost in mood and energy they provide, making users feel euphoric, confident, and energized. However, this can lead to a "crash" once the effects of the drug wear off.
The crash phase of stimulant use can be just as intense as the high, with users experiencing a range of unpleasant symptoms. This includes mental and physical exhaustion, depression, irritability, anxiety, and difficulty focusing. The crash can last for days or even weeks, depending on the duration of stimulant use and the type of drug. For example, the withdrawal phase after using cocaine starts around 2 days after the last use, while for methamphetamines, it can take up to 4 days.
During the withdrawal phase, users will experience strong drug cravings, along with continued mood swings, increased depression, anxiety, and irritability. It is common for users to experience extreme fatigue and sleep disturbances during this phase, with some unable to sleep at all. The duration of this phase can vary, lasting from 2 to 4 weeks.
Some users may also experience protracted withdrawal, which includes symptoms such as lingering depression, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties. This phase typically begins around 4-6 weeks after the last dose and can last for several weeks or months. It is important to note that stimulant addiction is characterized by constant swings of dramatic highs and crashes, with the lows becoming lower and the highs becoming higher over time. Breaking the cycle of stimulant addiction requires completely abstaining from stimulant use and allowing the body and brain to heal.
Wakefulness: The Art of Falling Asleep and Rising Early
You may want to see also
Sleep problems can increase the risk of substance abuse, with people using drugs to achieve and maintain sleep
Sleep and substance use are strongly linked
There is a strong relationship between substance use and sleep, with sleep problems sometimes leading to substance use and substance use affecting sleep.
How drugs affect sleep
Using drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines can reduce the need to sleep, while opioids, cannabis (marijuana), and alcohol may increase sleepiness and also disrupt sleep.
Not only can alcohol and drugs affect your amount of sleep, but they can negatively impact the quality of rest you receive during sleep.
Alcohol's impact on sleep
Alcohol has a major impact on your sleep. Part of the effect is due to alcohol’s ability to interfere with many brain chemicals that control your sleep cycle.
People often think that alcohol helps produce better sleep, but this may not be accurate. Alcohol is a sedative that helps you relax and slows down your body and brain. So it’s true that alcohol can help you fall asleep more quickly, which may result in a longer period of rest. The problem is that alcohol can also change your sleep and disrupt your normal sleep cycles.
Even though you may fall asleep faster, your sleep will not be desirable. Alcohol can create unwanted effects like disturbing your regular sleep cycle. It can do this by decreasing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep — when you do most of your dreaming — and by creating new or worsening existing sleep problems. Since REM sleep helps process feelings and achieve restful sleep, more REM sleep equals better sleep.
Sleep problems can increase the risk of substance abuse
Sleep problems and lack of sleep create a series of risk factors that increase the odds of substance abuse.
With a lack of sleep, you may:
- Use sedating drugs to self-medicate and help you fall asleep or stay asleep
- Use stimulating drugs to create wakefulness, energy, and concentration during the day after a poor sleep
- Use any drug due to the poor decision-making skills and impulsivity linked to being overly tired
Sleep disturbances can increase the risk of relapse
Abnormal sleep patterns can persist for up to 3 years in alcoholism. Sleep remains shortened and REM sleep pressure elevated as reflected in elevated REM percentages, shortened latencies to REM sleep and higher REM densities.
Both objective and subjective measures of sleep after acute abstinence predict the likelihood of relapse during long-term abstinence. Early laboratory studies suggested that low levels of slow-wave sleep are predictive of alcohol drinking relapse. Other more recent studies have identified REM sleep disturbances, either elevated REM sleep percent or shortened REM sleep latency as predictive of relapse.
Treatment of sleep disturbances in substance use disorders
The drug class of choice for insomnia treatment in patients without co-morbid alcoholism is the BzRAs. However, while these drugs have a relatively moderate abuse liability in those without alcoholism or a history of sedative abuse, their risk in out-patients with alcoholism after acute in-patient withdrawal is unknown.
Sedating antidepressant medications such as trazodone or doxepin are often used in the United States to treat insomnia and insomnia co-morbid with depression. Trazodone (50-300 mg) has been used to treat sleep disturbance in patients with alcoholism in open-label, non-controlled studies and has shown improved self-report measures of insomnia.
A recently completed large placebo-controlled trial of the anticonvulsant, gabapentin (900 mg or 1800 mg), showed improvement in both sleep and drinking outcomes for both doses of gabapentin.
Sleep and substance use share a common neurobiological disturbance
Insomnia and substance use disorders may share a common neurobiological disturbance. A convergence of data from nighttime and daytime electrophysiology, event-related brain potential recordings, neuroimaging studies, sympathetic nervous system, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis monitoring all suggest that insomnia is a disorder of “hyperarousal”.
The pathology underlying this hyperarousal is in part an HPA axis dysfunction involving corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRF) and norepinephrine (NE). Many theories of addiction hypothesize that stress increases vulnerability to drug abuse. Animal literature and human neuroimaging studies have identified brain circuits involved in stress that include release of CRF from the paraventicular nucleus and NE activation initiated in locus coeruleus. This CRF/NE activation also activates dopaminergic brain motivational pathways known to be engaged by drugs of abuse including the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens. Thus, stress co-activates brain stress and reward circuits simultaneously. Therefore, at a behavioural level, stress enhances the positive rewarding properties of drugs with abuse liability.
Don and Andrea's Affair: What Really Happened?
You may want to see also
Poor sleep is associated with poor decision-making skills and impulsivity, which can also contribute to substance abuse
The Impact of Sleep on Decision-Making and Impulsivity
Sleep plays a vital role in ensuring the proper functioning of the human body and brain. However, poor sleep or sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on an individual's ability to make decisions and control their impulsivity. Research has shown that individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) tend to exhibit higher valuation of risky options with potential rewards. This tendency towards risk-taking is further exacerbated by their lower motivation, self-regulation, and cognitive inhibition.
Furthermore, individuals with SUD also demonstrate a greater ability to learn from rewards but a decreased ability to learn from losses. This imbalance in processing feedback can lead to poor decision-making, as they may continue to pursue choices that provide immediate rewards without fully considering the potential negative long-term consequences.
The Link Between Sleep and Substance Abuse
The relationship between sleep and substance abuse is bidirectional. Sleep problems can increase the risk of developing substance use disorders, while acute and chronic substance use can lead to acute and chronic problems with sleep. Alcohol, for instance, can help individuals fall asleep faster due to its sedative effects, but it disrupts the normal sleep cycle by decreasing rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and exacerbating existing sleep problems.
Other substances, such as cocaine and methamphetamines, can reduce the need for sleep due to their stimulating effects, while opioids, cannabis, and alcohol may increase sleepiness. Additionally, withdrawal from certain substances, such as alcohol, cannabis, and opioids, can also lead to sleep disturbances, further contributing to poor decision-making and impulsivity.
Addressing Sleep Issues to Improve Decision-Making and Reduce Impulsivity
Given the impact of sleep on decision-making and impulsivity, it is essential to address sleep issues to improve overall functioning and reduce the risk of substance abuse. This can be achieved through various means, such as creating a healthy sleep environment, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, and avoiding the use of electronic devices before bed. Additionally, seeking professional help from a sleep specialist or psychologist may be beneficial for those struggling with sleep issues.
Stay Alert: Avoid the Slumber of Inaction
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
Drugs like cocaine and methamphetamines can reduce the need to sleep, while opioids, cannabis and alcohol may increase sleepiness and also disrupt sleep.
Alcohol is a sedative that helps you relax and slows down your body and brain. While it can help you fall asleep more quickly, it can also decrease REM sleep and create or worsen existing sleep problems.
As many as 91% of people report insomnia linked to alcohol use. Poor sleep habits, irregular sleep and/or wake schedules, and napping during the day can make good sleep the next night challenging.
Cannabis can help you fall asleep quickly, stay asleep, and wake up rested. However, more frequent or heavier use is connected to sleep problems like trouble falling asleep and waking during the night.
Stimulant drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants reduce the need for sleep.
Withdrawing from alcohol, cannabis, and opioids can make it harder to fall asleep. More than 40% of people withdrawing from cannabis report trouble sleeping, as well as nightmares and strange dreams.