This Is Why You Wake Up Super Early After A Night Of Drinking

You were absolutely exhausted when you got in at about three last night. Like fall-into-the-bed kinda wrecked and after supping vinos and downing a shot or two with the girls you were well ready for a good 10 hour kip and fully prepared to stay in bed until at least midday, yet, here you are lying in bed at 6am as bright as a button.

What’s going on? According to sleep expert Professor Colin Epsie waking up super early after a night on the sauce isn’t uncommon and it’s all to do with how our bods metabolise alcohol.

He explains that during the first half of the night “alcohol may reduce the time taken to fall asleep and can lead to deeper phases of sleep (at least initially) while potentially suppressing other important stages of sleep.

“However, as the alcohol is metabolised and cleared from the body, there is a ‘rebound’ in these suppressed phases of sleep leading to, for example, increased REM sleep as well as more awakenings and lighter sleep.”

“REM is a lighter phase of sleep associated with arousal and mental activity, which is why people often have restless nights, falling in and out of sleep after having alcohol,” he continues.

Not surprisingly the fix is to just drink less on your night out, but if you’re already enduring a booze-inflicted 6am wake up call, we say make the most of it. Grab a cuppa, stick on Netflix and snuggle up under the duvet. We can’t think of a better way to spend the morning.

• alcohol
• hangover
• sleep