Thread: My thoughts on REM and alcohol based on what studies I could find and my own experiences

I'll make this brief. I've noticed that contrary to the few people I've talked too, drinking seems to increase my total REM for the night. The only study I could find showed a increase in REM related to withdrawal of alcohol from an alcoholic. I rarely drink but when I do, I drink quite heavily and I've consistently experienced abnormal amounts of REM sleep when I finally crash (normally with a BAC of .12 or higher). I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced the same result or maybe an opposite result.

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Effects of Alcohol on Sleep in Those With Alcoholism

Active Drinking and Withdrawal. Sleep disturbances associated with alcoholism include increased time required to fall asleep, frequent awakenings, and a decrease in subjective sleep quality associated with daytime fatigue (3). Abrupt reduction of heavy drinking can trigger alcohol withdrawal syndrome, accompanied by pronounced insomnia with marked sleep fragmentation. Decreased SWS during withdrawal may reduce the amount of restful sleep. It has been suggested that increased REM may be related to the hallucinations that sometimes occur during withdrawal. In patients with severe withdrawal, sleep may consist almost entirely of brief periods of REM interrupted by numerous awakenings (3,20).

Source
Alcohol and Sleep - Drinking Alcohol and Sleep

The biggest problem I have with alcohol is waking up in the middle of the night with a racing heart. Sometimes it works out well as a forced WBTB, but other times, I end up being unable to fall back to sleep.

i just pass straight out... no dreams, no waking up, just pure non-dreaming sleep. at least that i can remember.

I find that after the initial black out, alcohol gives me a very poor sleep. So I'll black out for 4 hours, wake up, and have a hard time getting back to sleep again.

I believe lighter sleep = more dreams remembered, as your conscious mind is continually being activated every time you wake up, creating a bridge between sleep and consciousness. Same principal as WBTB really.

So when I drink I get more dreams, and more lucid dreams, simply because my sleep is not as deep.