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Experts explain why older adults feel more fatigue after drinking due to changes in body composition, increased brain sensitivity to alcohol, and disrupted sleep architecture.
HuffPost Life’s reporters sift through the health misinformation that’s running rampant in the current administration. We bring you the facts that matter most to your life, so you can stop worrying about the rest.
You probably don’t need an expert to tell you that alcohol messes with your body, especially when you’re well past your college years. Alcohol can If a night out is starting to lead to a night in much quicker than usual, or drinking isn’t fun anymore because you feel sleepy instead of silly, you’re not alone — and there’s a scientific reason.
Ahead, addiction experts share why drinking alcohol is more likely to make you feel tired when you’re older, other effects you might notice and when they typically show up. We’re looking at one main answer here.
“Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and the brain becomes more sensitive to its sedating effects with age,” saidThat’s because of changes in body composition. “As we age, lean body mass and total body water decrease, leaving less volume in which alcohol can distribute,” saidan addiction psychiatrist and network medical director at Hackensack Meridian Health Addiction Service. “Fat tissue then replaces the lost muscle mass. ”Feeling extra tired isn’t the only complication you’ll notice.
As mentioned earlier, anxiety is a major one. , not so fast. To make matters worse, even though you’re sleepy, you probably won’t sleep well. Talk about a double-whammy.
and deep restorative sleep,” Sherer explained.
“Because natural sleep architecture already becomes lighter and more fragmented as we age, adding alcohol guarantees you will wake up exhausted, irritable and physically fatigued. ” (Side note: “ There’s also the fact that older individuals may be more likely to have additional health issues or take more medications. He recalled patients reporting they slept a full seven or eight hours after drinking, but still waking up exhausted.
“Alcohol may facilitate unconsciousness, but unconsciousness and healthy sleep are not physiologically equivalent,” he said. Feeling extra tired isn’t the only complication you’ll notice. As mentioned earlier, anxiety is a major one. Doctors also listed the following:Taking more medications means more possible interactions with the alcohol.
This could contribute to increased drowsiness, dizziness or the medicine being less effective, to name a few examples. The aftereffects can be more pronounced and disruptive the following day. Alcohol can affect multiple parts of the body in multiple ways, such as contributing to dehydration, worsening GERD and triggering atrial fibrillation. It’s also aA nightcap may help you fall asleep faster, but it’ll hurt the quality of your sleep throughout the night.
There’s no particular age when you’ll notice those shifts, experts say. Plus, other factors are still at play, like body composition, health profile, gender and what you ate that day.
However, Swift has noticed that people in their 40s typically find that alcohol “goes to their head” more quickly, and she noted that physiology backs that up. Sherer has heard of people experiencing this as early as their mid-30s. Natha added that different life stages can bring different effects from alcohol. Generally speaking — and unfortunately — you’ll notice the tiredness worsen.
She said that young adults can recover from that most quickly, then middle-agers, then older adults.and a disrupted night of sleep and still function reasonably well the following day, that does not mean the alcohol had no biological effect,” Trautman clarified. Sherer spoke more about the effects that middle-aged people often experience.
“People in this age bracket often report that drinking makes them immediately sleepy, and the lingering fatigue from disrupted sleep lasts well into the workweek,” he said. “This is when the infamous ‘two-day hangover’ appears. ” Trautman added that those individuals are more likely to notice impaired concentration, irritability, fatigue and reduced exercise performance.
By the time you reach your 60s and 70s, Sherer said, alcohol “functions heavily as a sedative,” and your aging body “simply cannot process” as much alcohol safely. Trautman noted “a more consequential effect” on balance, reaction time, blood pressure, cognition and medical safety.
“In addiction treatment, this contrast can be striking,” Swift said. “A 20-year-old drinking 10 beers daily may show little evidence of withdrawal, while a 60-year-old drinking a bottle of wine each day may require medically supervised withdrawal management. ” So, while it may be annoying, it’s true: Alcohol has worsening effects on the body as we get older. It’s just not worth it.
“While our drinking habits may stay the same, as we age, their impact on our bodies grows more profound,” Natha concluded. “I have seen severe consequences of alcohol use disorder in people who are remarkably young,” Trautman said. “I have treated patients in their mid-30s who already hadand other advanced medical complications related to alcohol. That clinical reality challenges the idea that serious alcohol-related disease develops only in old age or only after many decades of drinking. ”
Alcohol Effects Aging Sleep Quality Central Nervous System Health Misinformation
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