Why drinking alcohol before bed worsens the quality of sleep (with harmful effects)

Although according to a study published in 2018 about 30% of people suffering from insomnia admitted to resorting to alcohol to be able to sleep, in reality this remedy is not recommended at all, because if it is true that alcohol can increase drowsiness, equally true that when this type of artificial sedatives are used to induce or prolong sleep, the latter is so disturbed as to transform the night into an authentic waking nightmare. The first of the negative effects of alcohol on the quality of rest is the interruption of circadian rhythms which, being set by the body’s internal clock, are those which generally help to fall asleep. As emerged from research published in 2007 in the journal Chronobiology International, alcohol negatively affects the production of melatonin (the hormone that promotes rest): in fact, it has been seen that even a small amount, consumed an hour before bedtime, is enough , to reduce melatonin levels, with a decrease of 19% compared to those who are sober about two and a half hours after drinking alcohol.