Binge Drinking Research Paper

A number of studies have been conducted to understand the effects of binge drinking on sleep-wakefulness. Most of these studies on normal healthy human subjects used high doses of alcohol (0.7-1 g/kg) achieving a BAC of ≥80 mg/dL. In general, these studies suggest that alcohol is a potent somnogen. Acute alcohol administered 30-60 min before bedtime in healthy non-alcoholics, shortens sleep onset latency, consolidates and increases the quality (delta power) and quantity of NREM sleep during the first half of the night (Thakkar et al., 2015; Gresham et al., 1963; Yules et al., 1966; Rundell et al., 1972; Prinz et al., 1980; MacLean and Cairns, 1982; Williams et al., 1983; Zarcone et al., 1980). A phenomenon called REM sleep rebound was observed during the second half of the night (Rundell et al., 1972; Williams et al., 1983).

Moreover, all these evidences provide a nice explanation as to why people with sleep problems drink alcohol to promote sleep especially binge drinking (Wong et al., 2004; Hasler et al., 2016; Wong et al., 2015; Canham et al., 2015; Popovice and French, 2013; Haario et al., 2013; Kenny et al., 2012; Johnson et al., 1998). How much it is likely that binge drinking, consumed to self-medicate sleep causes more disruptions? While generally alcohol at bedtime helps people falling and maintaining sleep during first few hours of night, it has a very disruptive effect on the rest of the night, which is marked by fragmented sleep and frequent awakening (Rohers and Roth, 2001; Williams et al., 1983; Rundell et al., 1972; MacLean and Cairns, 1982; Feige et al., 2006; Arnedt et al., 2011; Johnson et al., 1998). This is generally viewed as a rebound effect since a BAC of 80mg/dL after binge drinking would be negligible within 4-6 hours with the clearance rate of 10-20 mg/dL/hour (Prinz et al.,