Alcohol and sleep in young adults

Ethanol as a Hypnotic in Insomniacs Self Administration and Effects on Sleep and Mood

“…The data in normals show that tolerance to the stage 3-4 sleep enhancement develops within 3-5 nights of repeated use (Rundell et al 1972;Prinz et al 1980). In these high dose studies of normals, sleep disturbance then follows.…”

“…First regarding ethanol effects in healthy normals, doses from 0.16 to 1.0 g/kg, yielding breath ethanol concentrations (BEC) as high as 105 mg%, have been studied (Gresham et al 1963;Yules et al, 1966;Yules et al 1967;Rundell et al 1972;Williams and Salamy 1972;Stone 1980;Prinz et al 1980;MacLean and Cairns 1982;Williams et al 1983;Roehrs et al 1991). A few studies found reduced sleep latency (Rundell et al 1972;Williams and Salamy 1972;MacLean and Cairns 1982;Williams et al 1983) and a single study found increased sleep time at the low dose, 0.16 g/kg, but no effect at 0.32 and 0.64 g/kg (Stone 1980). When analyzing the sleep period by halves, some studies report increased wake or light stage I sleep in the second half of the sleep period (Williams et al 1983;Roehrs et al 1991).…”

“…Most studies find suppression of REM sleep at least in the first half of the sleep period (Gresham et al 1963;Yules et al 1966;Prinz et al 1980;Williams et al 1983;Roehrs et al 1991) and some studies find increased stage 3/4 sleep in the first half of the sleep period (Williams and Salamy 1972;MacLean and Cairns 1982;Williams et al 1983;Roehrs et al 1991). Studies have assessed effects over repeated nights of administration and clear tolerance to sedative and sleep stage effects develops within three nights (Rundell et al 1972;Prinz et al 1980). However, a healthy normal population sleeping at their usual bedtime is not adequate for assessing hypnotic effects.…”

Sleep patterns and sleep-related complaints of Brazilian interstate bus drivers

“…Alcohol is known to modify sleep in a significant manner, producing both objective alterations observed in the polysonographic (PSG) record and subjective alterations evaluated with scales and questionnaires (15,16).…”

“…Mitler et al (14) hypothesized that an extended situation of stress reduced alertness associated with attention, possibly leading to an increased incidence of accidents in the work place, since the fragmentation of the sleep architecture might result in an increase of sleepiness (15)(16)(17).…”