Poor Perceptions About Sleep May Lead Alcoholics to Relapse

Inaccurate perceptions about sleep quality can have troubling effects on recovering alcoholics, a University of Michigan study has found.

Monitoring a group of such patients, researchers found that they tended to overestimate how long it took for them to fall asleep as well as how much quality sleep time they got. The more inaccurate these perceptions, the more likely they were to relapse with alcohol, which may help people fall asleep but leads to poorer sleep quality later in the night, disturbed sleep patterns and increased alcohol tolerance.

Ultimately, disturbed sleep may lead to irritability and mood disturbances without the recovering alcoholic recognizing why, noted study author, Deirdre A. Conroy:

"If a recovering alcoholic is irritable because they are not getting quality sleep at night, they might be more vulnerable to return to drinking...[Previous] studies show that nonalcoholics with insomnia actually think they are sleeping worse than they are, so they may be more likely to seek appropriate treatment. Our study shows that an alcoholic in early recovery has a lot of wakefulness in the night but they are not necessarily picking up on this. It is important for the clinician working with the alcohol-dependent patient to have a differential of poor sleep quality in the back of their mind as a potential challenge for the patient throughout alcohol recovery."

Read more: Recovering alcoholics with poor sleep perceptions will likely relapse
ABSTRACT: Perception of Sleep in Recovering Alcohol-Dependent Patients With Insomnia: Relationship With Future Drinking