Just two glasses of wine reduces sleep quality by nearly 40%

Just two glasses of wine reduces people's quality of sleep by nearly 40 per cent, new research suggests.

Heavy alcohol consumption, which is defined as two drinks a night in women and three in men, reduces people's quality of shut eye by 39.2 per cent, a study found.

As The Daily Mail reports, previous research suggests alcohol causes people to spend less time in deep, restful sleep and more time in the rapid eye movement stage, which is when dreams occur.

Results imply young people suffer the effects of alcohol more than their older counterparts.

Study co-author Professor Tero Myllymäki, from Tampere University of Technology, Finland, said: 'When you're physically active, or younger, it's easy, natural even, to feel like you're invincible.

'However, the evidence shows that despite being young and active you're still susceptible to the negative effects of alcohol on recovery when you are asleep.'

Professor Myllymäki added: 'It's hard to overstate the importance of sleep, in terms of both quality and quantity.

'While we may not always be able to add hours to our sleep time, with insight into how our behaviors influence the restorative quality of our sleep we can learn to sleep more efficiently. 

'A small change, as long as it's the right one, can have a big impact.' 

Results further suggest that moderate alcohol consumption, defined as two drinks a day for men and one for women, reduces sleep quality by 24 per cent.

A low alcohol intake inhibits slumbers by 9.3 per cent. 

The findings were published in the journal JMIR Mental Health. 

How the research was carried out 

The researchers analysed 4,098 adults aged between 18 and 65 years old.

The participants wore heart-rate variability measuring devices for at least two nights; one of which they had consumed alcohol and the other they were sober.

Sleep was examined during the first three hours. 

Heart-rate variability is a measure of relaxation.  

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