Why do I wake up so early when I drink?
Many people claim that alcohol helps them sleep. Maybe you’ve said this line a time or two yourself. But if that’s the case, if alcohol is helping you sleep, then what’s the deal with the early morning wake-up call? Let’s say - right around 3:00 in the morning.
Here’s the deal. Alcohol doesn’t help you sleep. Instead, it sedates you. And sedation is not sleep. It messes with your natural sleep cycles, so even though you might conk out quickly after a drink (or five), your body isn’t actually resting. It’s just temporarily unconscious.
In this blog we will explore four reasons why you wake up at 3:00am after drinking. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, we discuss it at length on the podcast, Episode 5 of Feel Good Alcohol-Free.
Four reasons why you keep waking up at 3am after a night of drinking
1. Alcohol wrecks your sleep cycles
You think alcohol “helps you relax”. But in reality, it’s destroying the quality of your sleep. It sedates you, sure. But sedation is not the same as rest. Alcohol suppresses REM sleep, which is the phase that helps you process emotions, consolidate memories, and wake up feeling like an actual human. No REM sleep translates into waking up exhausted, moody, and with mental fog.
2. The blood sugar crash
Alcohol is a sneaky little liar. It spikes your blood sugar when you drink, and then when it wears off, your blood sugar tanks. This crash triggers a surge of adrenaline and cortisol. This is where the early morning wake-up, cold sweats, and full-body anxiety come in. You know that feeling of your heart racing out of nowhere? That’s not “just anxiety”or as some people call it “hangxiety”. It’s your nervous system freaking out because of what alcohol did hours earlier.
3. Cortisol and adrenaline (your body’s alarm system)
Normally, cortisol follows a rhythm, rising gently in the morning to wake you up. But when you drink, that rhythm gets wrecked. Instead of a slow morning rise, your body dumps cortisol into your system in the middle of the night, jolting you awake like you just heard a car alarm go off in your bedroom.
4. The “false sleep” effect
Think passing out on the couch can be considered a great night’s sleep? Think again. Alcohol knocks you out, but it also fragments your sleep, meaning you wake up multiple times without realizing it. The result? You wake up feeling like you barely slept at all, because, well, you didn’t.
How This Messes With Your Life
Let’s talk about the long game. This isn’t just about a few bad nights. It’s about how alcohol-induced sleep deprivation messes with everything.
Here are three ways alcohol messes with your life:
Poor decision-making. Sleep debt makes you impulsive and unable to think clearly. Guess what that means? More bad choices. More "screw it" moments where you reach for another drink.
Irritability and mood swings. Alcohol disrupts REM sleep, which means you’re not processing emotions properly. Ever wake up irrationally anxious after drinking? Yeah, that’s why.
Running on fumes. You wake up exhausted, so you guzzle caffeine. Caffeine fuels anxiety. Anxiety leads to stress. Stress makes you crave alcohol. And so the cycle continues.
For me? It got so bad that I couldn’t even consider a healthy breakfast. Nowadays you’ll catch me drinking my morning protein smoothie (or newly discovered moringa), but no joke. I’d hit the fast food drive-thru every morning because I needed greasy, heavy food just to feel normal. (And by normal I mean not as hungover.)
And let’s not forget the physical pain. The upper neck and skull pain I woke up with was excruciating. My body was screaming at me, and I ignored it.
How to Start Sleeping Better
If you’ve been telling yourself that drinking helps you sleep, I know this may not be an easy thing to confront. In fact, I know how much this sucks. It’s confusing, it’s exhausting, and it feels so unfair. While your glass of wine may help you fall asleep, you are actually getting anything but a good night’s rest when you are relying on alcohol to get you there.
If you’re tired of repeating the same 3AM wake-up call, if you’re tired of making promises to yourself that you don’t keep - it’s time to change that. You can learn how to Feel Good AF (and that includes sleeping good AF, too) - and I can help you get there.
Book a free sober strategy session with me at the button below. During this call you can tell me your goals, your concerns, what you want to change in your life, and we’ll talk about if working together is a good fit.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
And remember, Lindsay is a sober coach, not a health professional. If you are chemically dependent on alcohol, consult your doctor on the steps you need to take to safely detox.
