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Sleep Perceptions May Predict Relapse

Alcohol can initially help people fall asleep, but leads to poor-quality sleep later during the night. Increased drinking in order to help sleep can possibly lead to alcoholism in vulnerable drinkers. This study evaluates both subjective and objective measures of poor sleep among alcoholic insomniacs; it also examines which measures may predict future drinking.
Researchers examined 18 individuals with insomnia (9 males, 9 females) in early recovery from alcohol dependence. Each participant underwent sleep lab testing –polysomnography (PSG) for two nights, three weeks apart. Participants also provided morning estimates of sleep onset latency (SOL) or the time it takes to fall asleep, wake time after sleep onset (WASO), total sleep time (TST), and sleep efficiency (SE), a measure of sleep continuity. After complete PSG results were recorded, participants were asked to give information about their drinking habits during two consecutive six-week follow-up periods.

Most of the alcoholic insomniacs overestimated SOL and underestimated the amount of wakefulness they experienced in sleep (WASO). Those individuals with inaccurate sleep perceptions were also more likely to return to drinking. This suggests that inaccurate sleep perceptions among alcoholics in early recovery may predict relapse to drinking.

(Conroy, DA, Arnedt, JT, Brower, KJ, Strobbe, S, Consens, F, Hoffmann, R, Armitage, R: Perception of sleep in recovering alcohol dependent patients with insomnia: Relationship to future drinking. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research 30:1992-1999, 2006.)

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