Alcohol is known to increase slow-wave sleep during the first half of sleep, but then become disruptive.A new study of the relationship between sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep has found that alcohol interferes with the restorative functions of sleep. Large amounts of alcohol are known to shorten sleep latency, increase slow-wave sleep, and suppress rapid eye movement (REM) during the first half of sleep. During the second half of sleep, REM increases and sleep becomes shallower. A study of the acute effects of alcohol on the relationship between sleep and heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep has found that alcohol interferes with the restorative functions of sleep.Results will be published in the November 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. Alcohol affects overall sleep architecture," said Yohei Sagawa, a medical doctor in the department of neuropsychiatry at the Akita University School of Medicine. "Normally, during physiologic nocturnal sleep in humans, the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for 'rest-and-digest' activities, is dominant over the sympathetic nervous system, responsible for stimulating activities. We wanted to investigate how alcohol may change this complementary relationship.""I believe that the approach used in this study is unique," added Seiji Nishino, director of the Sleep & Circadian Neurobiology Laboratory
at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Although there are several studies monitoring HRV during sleep, as far as I know there is no report describing the effects of alcohol on autonomic nervous system during sleep using this parameter."
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