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Alcoholism

Description

Alcoholism refers to excessive alcohol intake and applies to both alcohol abuse and dependency. Insomnia or excessive sleepiness is a common feature of alcoholism.

Diagnosis

Brief and severe alcohol use produces increased sleepiness starting about 30 minutes after consumption and lasting for about four hours, depending on the amount of alcohol consumed. Alcohol use before bed reduces the amount of wakefulness for the first three to four hours of sleep, but the amount of wakefulness increases during the last two to three hours of sleep.
Chronic, excessive alcohol use may be initially associated with some sleep improvement with very deep sleep. The amount of snoring increases. After several days of continued alcohol consumption, sleep becomes fragmented, with short periods of deep sleep interrupted by periods of restlessness.

Treatment

The best treatment is to abstain, or stop drinking alcohol. Abstinence following chronic, excessive alcohol use is first characterized by profound sleep disruption, including occasional nights of very little sleep. During sleep periods, nightmares and other anxiety dreams are sometimes pronounced. Gradually, sleep continues to improve over the first two weeks of abstinence. Some patients never seem to recover their normal sleep patterns, even after years of abstinence.

Source: Adapted from International Classification of Sleep Disorders Diagnostic & Coding Manual, American Academy of Sleep Medicine.