Try an alcohol free period and sleep like a baby!
Could this be you? Over a period of time you have lost your sense of humour and more people think you are grumpy or moody. In fact you seem to have trouble controlling your emotions, with more negativity and less flexibility. You are easily distracted and this contributes to a tendency to procrastinate. Your memory seems poorer and you may even perseverate or inappropriately repeat words and actions. Sometimes your decision-making seems poor and this may apply to both judgement and risk taking. Or it may just be an awareness that subtle mental and physical changes are impairing your ability to function effectively day to day.
These are some of the symptoms you may experience due to impaired executive function of frontal lobes of the brain. Two common and potentially reversible causes include the effects of chronic excess alcohol and/or a poor sleep pattern. If nothing is done then these symptoms may signal the beginning of a more severe and permanent cognitive decline.
Don’t get me wrong. This post is not all about the perils of harmful drinking. In keeping with over 90 per cent of the population in the UK I enjoy a drink. Indeed there is what we call a J-shaped relationship between the amount of alcohol we drink and the risks and benefits for health. As you might expect a long term excess of alcohol can be bad for your health. On the other hand people who don’t drink any alcohol at all seem to have poorer health outcomes to those who drink ‘moderate’ amounts.
I also recognise that over 80 percent of those of us who drink more than we should (current safe levels per week are 21 units for men; 14 units for women), do not think this will do us any harm; and less than one in five of us wants to reduce the amount we consume.
This suggests that although most of us are aware that alcohol excess is associated with a wide range of health conditions such as liver cirrhosis, heart failure and some cancers, we seem to believe that these consequences are more likely in the ‘alcoholic’ who is stereotypically unable to control their drinking at all.
“When I read about the perils of drinking I gave up reading” Henry Youngman
Why does this matter? Two reasons: firstly the age group in whom there was greatest rise in the number of people who admitted to drinking above recommended levels between 1998 and 2010, were those aged 65 and over. Given that in less than 20 years the population over 65 will have increased by 64% compared to 2010, what I am going to say next could interest a lot of people who are 40 plus years of age and who may be in the ‘at risk’ group if current trends in alcohol consumption continue.
Secondly, as we get older, the effects of alcohol on the brain are potentially more common and serious. A recent study has shown that over a 10 year period the rate of cognitive decline, particularly in men, was significantly faster if drinking equal to or more than an average of 36 grams per day. (8 grams is equivalent to 1 unit). This adversely affected memory as well as executive function. Indeed the risk of poor mental health, including anxiety, depression, self-neglect and suicide also increases.
Added to this is the risk of drug and alcohol interactions which is made more likely by the greater number of medications which may be prescribed for a variety of reasons as we get older. Alcohol is also a significant source of extra calories which can be a particular problem for those who are trying to lose weight.
So why do we choose to continue with alcohol dependent behaviours and how does this affect sleep and brain function?
Often the behavioural patterns first develop as a way of coping with stress. Because we develop a tolerance to the effects of alcohol we may drink more to achieve the same benefit, in this case, to relieve stress. Indeed paradoxically alcohol may increase anxiety and cause depression so causing a vicious cycle to develop.
We know that alcohol alters the chemistry in the brain. Researchers in Yale report that changes in the levels of dopamine induced by alcohol can lead to a craving for alcohol. This can be followed by a subconscious learning process until, before we know it, we habitually drink to excess.
Probably due to a combination of the direct effects of alcohol on brain biochemistry and those due to a reduction in the number of refreshing sleep cycles, a condition leading to what researchers call frontal lobe dysfunction, or an impairment of executive functioning of the brain, develops. This is responsible for many of the symptoms described in the first paragraph.
On a personal level having experienced a number of these symptoms, I won’t say which, and an unrefreshing sleep pattern, it was a ‘no brainer’ that if these were due to consuming alcohol, the cure was to stop the cause. For two consecutive years I undertook a 6 week abstinence period. On each occasion within a few days my sleep pattern improved significantly. I was waking up more energised and creative and I was less concerned about pushing myself physically in terms of vigorous exercise the ‘morning after’. This meant that I also found it easier to take more exercise more frequently.
So if you want to sleep and feel better in the morning, restore your sense of humour and perspective, and get rid of the ‘grumpy’ label, I would recommend either a complete break or a 2 to 3 day no-alcohol rule each week.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.