What happens if you drink alcohol as a sleeping pill. A neurologist tells us

Many people know no better way to relax after a stressful day at work than to allow themselves a little alcohol. “I’m just relaxing,” is how some drinkers often explain their behavior to their loved ones. But how does alcohol actually affect the human psyche? And at the expense of what is the calming effect?

psychologist, neurologist, candidate of medical sciences

Tells about the consequences of regular alcohol consumption.

Does alcohol help you sleep

Paradoxically, but by starting to drink alcohol in order to sleep better, you can achieve the exact opposite effect. Taking “on the chest”, we destroy the protection of red blood cells, because of which their clots are formed. As a result, certain parts of the brain are no longer supplied with oxygen. So what seems like a pleasant tiredness to the drinker is just oxygen deprivation.

Alcohol also lowers blood glucose levels. The metabolic processes in the brain are disrupted. No oxygen, no glucose – so the neurons have no choice but to die within minutes. Then their work is taken over by the survivors. And that takes a lot of energy. The organism feels tired, exhausted and tends to sleep in order to replenish the spent energy, to help its defense functions to mobilize.

It seems to the person that in the state of alcohol intoxication, he sleeps soundly. In fact, the sleep of an intoxicated person is poor quality, intermittent. Under the influence of alcohol violate the sequence and duration of sleep phases: fast and slow. And, most unpleasantly, time passes, and at first glance innocent pampering in the form of a portion of cognac at night leads to insomnia, to cope with which will be really difficult.

Why alcohol makes some people aggressive, and others – sleepy

It depends on the work of the central nervous system, as well as the general state of the psyche. If there are a lot of toxins in the body, and there are enough dead cells in the brain, the body begins to defend itself and causes drowsiness to throw all its strength into cleansing.

Increased aggressiveness after taking alcohol is associated with starvation of brain cells and intoxication, when the body can not turn on the defense functions and takes the poison outward. Associated diseases also influence this. Perinatal encephalopathy in childhood, seizure syndromes, delayed speech development – these are all signs that in adulthood a person can lose control over himself.

What happens if you regularly drink alcohol at night

Diseases of the central nervous system

For many, alcohol acts as a depressant. Depression of the central nervous system causes the drinker to react aggressively to the slightest discomfort or complex emotions such as resentment, fear, jealousy, irritation.

Chronic poisoning with ethanol and its breakdown products leads to encephalopathy (brain dysfunction) and neurological diseases. On their background develop very unpleasant phenomena: sudden outbursts of aggression, delusions, phobias. Inevitably decline in mental abilities. Suffers memory, short-term and long-term. Volitional abilities and self-control gradually melt, like dissolved aspirin in a glass of water.

Liver disease

Normally, we don’t think about our liver because we don’t feel it. If it gives some signals, it is already a loud SOS. The liver is the main load of alcohol processing, and it suffers first of all. Liver cirrhosis, cancer, hepatitis and other pathologies are the consequence of the fact that once a person decided to calm his nerves in a not quite healthy way. When the liver gets sick, the whole body begins to suffer, because it stops coping with the most important function of filtration.

Addiction

The more often a person stimulates himself with artificial opiates, the more willingly his body refuses to produce its own, natural opiates. When sober, the drinker is often gloomy, full of joyless thoughts, and this “fog” can only be lifted by drinking alcohol. The circle is closed. What is the result? Dependence, physical and psychological, which many people never manage to get rid of.

About what is safer for health – to drink a lot on the weekend or every day a little bit, told in this article.

What scientists say

Some studies show that moderate, “cultural” drinking helps a person become healthier. Everyone has probably heard of a glass of red wine at dinner as a preventative measure against age-related dementia and cardiovascular disease. But more rigorous scientific work refutes the relative benefits of alcohol.

If you find it difficult to relieve tension and sleep, you definitely shouldn’t reach for the bottle. At the very least, you’ll only upset your nervous system. It is better to start with a visit to the doctor.