A recent study published in the journal Alcohol, clinical and experimental research found a link between sleep disturbances and alcohol consumption in adults. Research reveals that even subclinical symptoms of insomnia can predict future increases in alcohol consumption. This study stands out as the first to explore whether objective measures of circadian rhythms can predict future drinking behavior in adults.
Although previous studies have suggested a link between sleep disturbances and alcohol use, most have relied on self-reported data and focused primarily on adolescents and young adults. Given variations in sleep and drinking patterns across different age groups, researchers sought to study these associations in a more diverse sample of adults using objective measures of sleep and circadian rhythms. .
The study included 78 adults aged 21 to 42, classified based on their drinking habits as light or heavy drinkers. Light drinkers were defined as those consuming 1 to 5 standard alcoholic drinks per week with fewer than three episodes of heavy drinking in the past year. Heavy drinkers were those who consumed ten or more standard alcoholic drinks per week with at least one binge drinking episode per week. Participants were relatively healthy, with no significant physical or mental health problems.
The study began with one week of home monitoring. During this period, participants wore wrist actigraphy monitors, which are devices that measure movement and provide objective estimates of sleep patterns, including sleep duration, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency. . Participants also kept a daily diary to record their sleep patterns, caffeine and alcohol intake, and medication use. This comprehensive monitoring provided a detailed baseline of each participant’s sleep behavior.
After the week of home monitoring, participants attended a 9-hour laboratory session. In the laboratory, participants underwent various assessments, including breathalyzer tests to confirm recent abstinence from alcohol, and completed several questionnaires. These questionnaires assessed insomnia severity, circadian preferences, social jet lag, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and anticipated effects of alcohol.
The session also included a Low Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO) test, which is a gold standard for assessing circadian rhythms by tracking the onset of melatonin production in low light conditions. This test provided objective data on each participant’s circadian timing.
To better understand the relationship between sleep, circadian rhythms and alcohol consumption, the researchers followed the participants every three months for a year. During these follow-ups, participants completed online questionnaires detailing their alcohol consumption over the past 30 days and repeated some of the baseline assessments.
The researchers found that participants with higher baseline insomnia severity reported increased alcohol consumption and more frequent binge drinking episodes during the follow-up period. This finding indicates that even subclinical levels of insomnia can have a significant impact on drinking behavior, highlighting the importance of addressing sleep disorders as a potential strategy to reduce alcohol misuse. .
“Of note, insomnia symptom severity was on average relatively low in our sample and yet still predictive of alcohol use,” the researchers wrote.
Interestingly, the study also found that longer total sleep duration, as measured by actigraphy, was associated with greater alcohol consumption. This surprising finding contrasts with previous research, which generally associates shorter sleep duration with higher alcohol consumption, particularly in younger populations. The researchers hypothesized that this unexpected result might be due to the unique characteristics of their sample or the objective measurement methods used.
They explained that “heavy drinkers in our sample slept on average about 30 minutes more per night than light drinkers, which was mainly due to a later wake-up time among heavy drinkers.” Thus, longer total sleep duration may simply be correlated with greater alcohol consumption. Regardless, this conclusion should be interpreted with caution.
In terms of circadian measures, the study found that none of the objective circadian measures, including DLMO and circadian misalignment, significantly predicted future alcohol consumption. This suggests that circadian factors influencing alcohol consumption may differ between adolescents and adults.
For example, younger people often experience significant shifts toward a later circadian rhythm, which may influence their drinking behavior. In contrast, adults may have more stable circadian patterns and greater control over their sleep schedules, thereby reducing the impact of circadian misalignment on alcohol consumption.
Additionally, the researchers noted a trend indicating that participants who expected more rewarding effects from alcohol during the six-month follow-up were more likely to increase their alcohol consumption. Although this result was not statistically significant, it suggests that the expected positive effects of alcohol may play a part mediating role in the relationship between insomnia and future alcohol consumption. This potential mechanism warrants further investigation to better understand how expectancies regarding the effects of alcohol influence drinking behavior.
“In conclusion, the present results build on our previous paper reporting sleep characteristics and circadian characteristics related to alcohol consumption, reporting in this case that more severe severity of insomnia symptoms and greater Longer total sleep duration derived from actigraphy predicted greater frequency of drinking and binge episodes over the following 12 months,” the researchers wrote.
“Although the unexpected findings on total sleep duration need to be replicated before being examined further, the findings on insomnia are consistent with existing literature and raise questions about whether symptoms of insomnia may be a modifiable target to reduce the risk of alcohol abuse.”
The study, “Do sleep and circadian characteristics predict alcohol consumption among adult drinkers?” “, was written by Helen J. Burgess, Jonathan P. Troost, Muneer Rizvydeen, Fumitaka Kikyo, Nema Kebbeh, Michael Tan, Kathryn A. Roecklein, Andrea C. King, and Brant P. Hasler.
News Source : www.psypost.org
Gn Health
