I have noticed that alcohol drastically affects my focus during the workweek.
If I have two beers the night before, I can’t focus nearly as well the next day. I would say I get a 50% handicap on productivity the day after a night of just a few drinks.
Of course, my age of early 30s likely impacts this, since everyone complains of the hangovers getting worse as they get older. Although there is a counter to that theory, where people say we notice it more because we have real jobs and real responsibility and can’t sleep in until 11 AM like a college student might.
Here’s a bit of anecdotal data and research on the subject.
Alcohol Greatly Affects Deep Sleep
After cutting out alcohol during the workweek, and even on weekends, my deep sleep has skyrocketed. According the the Autosleep app, connected to my Apple Watch and iPhone, it’s often over 2 hours on no-alcohol nights where I go to bed on time.
I wake much more refreshed, and have felt like my brain has literally been cleansed – a weird sensation. I don’t get the cleansing feeling all the time, but definitely more often after deep sleep.
Deep sleep is a brain state. It’s different from REM. Deep sleep happens during stage 3 and 4 of non-REM sleep, while REM is stage 5.
From ASA, American Sleep Association:
“Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep of the sleep cycle are progressively deeper stages of sleep. These stages of sleep are also called ‘Slow Wave Sleep’ (SWS), or delta sleep.”
“Slow-wave sleep is generally referred to as deep sleep, and is comprised of the deepest stage of NREM. In stage three we see the greatest arousal thresholds, such as difficulty in awakening, and so on. After being awoken, the person will generally feel quite groggy, and cognitive tests that have been administered after being awoken from the third stage show that for up to half an hour or so, and when compared to awakenings from the other stages, mental performance is moderately impaired. This is a phenomenon known as sleep inertia. When sleep deprivation has occurred there’s generally a sharp rebound of slow-wave sleep, which suggests that there’s a need for slow-wave sleep. It now appears that slow-wave sleep is a highly active state, and not a brain quiescence as previously believed. In fact, brain imaging data shows that regional brain activity during non-REM sleep is influenced by the most recent waking experience”
Alcohol Affects Sleep in General
This paper, a meta-analysis of alcohol studies, Sleep, Sleepiness, and Alcohol Use by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital, shows that alcohol affects sleep fragmentation which then affects next day focus:
“As mentioned earlier, the identification and recognition of sleep disorders have sensitized clinical researchers to the importance of sleep quantity and continuity for optimal daytime alertness and performance. In healthy people, even relatively minimal (i.e., 1 to 3 hours) reductions in nocturnal sleep time for a single night can reduce alertness and performance efficiency during the following day. Moreover, these effects can accumulate across nights (Roehrs et al. 2000a). Similarly, a disruption of sleep continuity by auditory stimuli, without reductions in overall sleep time, results in reduced alertness and performance efficiency in healthy people (Roehrs et al. 2000a). This fragmentation of sleep continuity is characterized by increased amounts of stage 1 sleep and brief awakenings.”
The paper also refers to another study with pilots:
“Several studies have evaluated next-day performance and alertness in healthy people who consumed alcohol before bedtime. In one study, young pilots drank alcohol between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. in quantities sufficient to result in blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of 0.10 and 0.12 percent right before bedtime. The following morning, more than 14 hours after consuming alcohol and with BACs at 0, the performance of pilots in a flight simulator was impaired relative to their performance after consuming a placebo (Yesavage and Leirer 1986).”
Which shows a strong connection between alcohol and performance vs placebo.
Acetaldehyde Affects Focus
From Buzzfeed News:
“One possible reason for this is the way our body metabolizes booze, Adams says, which involves enzymes breaking down the alcohol into toxic byproducts. “One of these metabolites is called acetaldehyde, and some neurological studies have shown early indications that acetaldehyde might mimic the effects of alcohol on the brain and subsequent cognition,” Adams said.”
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinekee/your-brain-hungover
I’m not too privvy on the science of the above, but it’s interesting as an additional layer of impact on focus, aside from poor sleep quality.
Alcohol Affects Sleep Hormones Like Growth Hormone
This study is super interesting, as it shows a link in alcohol affecting SWS and growth hormones:
“Various hormones secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain also show circadian variations, with secretory peaks occurring during the usual sleep period. Some of these hormones are linked to sleep–if sleep is delayed, their secretory peaks also are delayed. Conversely, the levels of other hormones peak at the same time every night, even if sleep is delayed. One of the pituitary hormones linked to sleep is growth hormone, whose secretion typically peaks with the onset of SWS (Takahashi et al. 1969). In an early study, administration of 0.8 g/kg alcohol before bedtime suppressed growth-hormone secretion, despite increasing the percentage of SWS (Prinz et al. 1980). A later study using two different alcohol doses–0.5 and 1.0 g/kg–similarly found that alcohol suppressed growth-hormone secretion at a dose-related rate (Ekman et al. 1996). Thus, alcohol appears to affect growth-hormone secretion and SWS levels independently (i.e., to dissociate growth hormone from SWS).”
I never knew this until now. Super interesting that growth hormone starts at the beginning of SWS and can be delayed if sleep is delayed.
So if I’m making the connection correctly, alcohol can severely impact growth hormones during sleep – thus if you’re training or trying to gain muscle, it’s a bad idea!
Alcohol Affects the Neurotransmitters GABA and Glutamate
The same study by Timothy Roehrs at Henry Ford Hospital shows the impact of alcohol on neurotransmitters.
” Alcohol’s effects on central nervous system (CNS) function are mediated by its effects on various brain chemicals (i.e., neurotransmitters and neuromodulators) that are responsible for the transmission of nerve signals from one nerve cell (i.e., neuron) to the next. These neurotransmitters are released by the signal-emitting neuron and generally exert their actions by interacting with certain molecules (i.e., receptors) located on the surface of the signal-receiving neuron. Particularly at low doses, alcohol affects CNS function primarily by interfering with the normal actions of the neurotransmitters gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, both of which also play critical roles in wake-sleep states (Koob 1996).”
Looks like alcohol directly impacts REM, but the reason is unclear, at least in this study:
“The neurobiological mechanism underlying alcohol’s suppression of REM sleep is unclear. One neurotransmitter considered to play an important role in REM sleep is acetylcholine (Bennington and Heller 1995). Like other neurotransmitters, this molecule acts through several types of receptors, including nicotinic receptors and muscarinic receptors. To date, only minimal evidence suggests a substantive alcohol effect on acetylcholine. Furthermore, the evidence that does exist indicates that alcohol’s effects occur through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (Collins 1996); however, acetylcholine-mediated induction of REM sleep occurs through muscarinic receptors (Bennington and Heller 1995). Thus, it appears unlikely that the alcohol-related suppression of REM sleep is mediated by alcohol’s effects on the acetylcholine system.”
Conclusion
Alcohol definitely impacts sleep, for me.
I’ve noticed if I have just one glass of wine, not close to bedtime, the effects are zero to minimal.
But if I have two beers, for instance, I definitely feel the effect. Could be other factors at play such as toxic adjuncts in beer that are unlabeled.
For now, no alcohol is the way to go for focus during the workweek!
Updated July 8, 2020
Nobody cares but I’m putting it out on the internet anyways! So after 4th of July weekend I feel the depletion again.
I find it fascinating to get this depletion after a few days of consecutive drinking, since I don’t drink that much anymore. In 2020 I’ve cut back a ton, dropping down to just a few drinks a week and some weeks with no drinking at all.
A quick chronicling of events:
- Thursday – small happy hour at home – had a few mixed drinks and beer – probably 4 drinks total.
- Friday – went to sister’s house – a farmstead – and had a glass of wine or two. Didn’t sleep super well because of the new environment and heat in room in morning.
- Saturday – spent about 2 hrs out on the pond mid-day, cleaning it. Wore sunscreen but had sun exposure there. Then from about 3-6pm was on the pond for 3 hrs with more sun exposure and probably 5 drinks of alcohol. Then around dinner had another 2-3 drinks of alcohol. Sleep that night was ok, but also probably just 6-7 hrs and impacted by alcohol.
- Sunday – big error today. I helped out on the farm for 2 hours in 85-90 degree heat, clearing brush. Made multiple runs up a hill with a wheelbarrow and by the 2nd run I was sweating big time. I drank plenty of water but this type of outdoor work is rare, and so I wasn’t acclimated to this environment. I learned on a triathlon training podcast that you should spend at least 10 days training up for a new, hotter environment such as this.
Result: starting Sunday afternoon and evening, felt very tired and depleted on the way home. This has continued on through today, Wednesday. Have been going to bed earlier but have also been waking up early, so I’ve been getting mixed sleep. Sunday I got ~6 hrs of sleep, with a 1.5 hr period of awakeness from 3:30 – 5:30 am, weirdly. Monday night got a full 9 hrs but still didn’t feel 100%. Last night, Tuesday, I got 7 hrs – just couldn’t sleep past 7:30 am.
So overall I think it’s a combination of: the alcohol itself over 3 consecutive days, the impact of alcohol on sleep for 3 nights, general sun exposure on Saturday which accelerates dehydration, over-exertion in heat on Sunday which leads to slight heat injury/heat exhaustion.
To recover from this I’m going to do a few things:
- Know that I’ve been here before and just work through it
- Take it easier the 2nd half of every day and try to get deep relaxation
- I can use coffee to help, but don’t go overboard and fry nerves. Today, Wednesday, July 8, I had 2 cups of coffee. Let’s see how that shakes out, I prefer to stick to 1.
- Continue hydration protocol with a homemade electrolyte drink (orange juice, lemon juice, agave, salt, water).
- Vitamin routine – add more B vitamins, greens like spirulina, and whatever else is recommended like a multivitamin.
I want to write all this down to remember for the future. I haven’t felt this depleted 3 days after the last event day (Sunday was the heat exhaustion day) in about 6 months, since a bachelor party in New Orleans. It’s a real nutritional and scientific combination of impacts on the body that create the reaction I have now which is tiredness, a feeling of strong fatigue, and a generally depleted mood.
I still find it very interesting that there’s not a ton of talk out there about alcohol and its impacts on nutrition, energy, and work focus. I mean we hear our parents saying “don’t drink too much”. And we hear general guidelines of “no more than 1 drink a night for women and 2 drinks a night for men on average, with a max of 7-14 drinks a week” which is helpful but still disconnected from outcomes. When we hear these things we think of the abstract idea of health, and besides hangovers, there’s not as much of an instant connection to immediate focus, health, nutrition, and energy on a daily basis, or the next few days after drinking.
But I’ve found one resource that’s extremely compelling and synthesizes a good amount of facts and science on this particular subject: https://wellness.ucsd.edu/studenthealth/resources/health-topics/alcohol-drugs/Pages/alcohol-nutrition-endurance.aspx
Some of my favorite highlights:
Alcohol use depletes your source of energy.
Once alcohol is absorbed through your stomach and small intestine and finally into your cells, it can disrupt the water balance in muscle cells, thus altering their ability to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is your muscles’ source of energy. ATP provides the furl necessary for your muscles to contract.
Alcohol also reduces energy sources by inhibiting a process known as gluconeogenesis in which glucose is formed from substances other than glucose. When alcohol is oxidized by alcohol dehydrogenase (an enzyme), it produces an elevation of NADH, which ultimately reduces the amount of a coenzyme that is essential in the production of ATP. This loss of ATP results in a lack of energy and loss of endurance.
This above is fascinating because I rarely see a direct link made between alcohol and ATP production.
Alcohol use inhibits ability to learn new information.
Any athlete knows that preparation, such as learning pays and sound strategies, is essential to peak performance. However, alcohol can have a devastating effect on this process. When there is alcohol in your system, your brain’s ability to learn and store new information is inhibited due to compromising of the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain vital to the formation of memories. If you cannot form new memories, you cannot learn.
This is also fascinating – we’ve heard that alcohol kills brain cells (which isn’t exactly true) but this connection to preventing learning new info is very true for those who have felt stupid the day after drinking.