Meeting the guys for a few drinks after work? You might not want to stay up late bingeing Netflix the night before: Skimping on shuteye can increase the impairing effects of alcohol, a new study in the journal Human Psychopharmacology suggests.
In the study, researchers recruited 16 healthy guys and tested their attention and sleepiness after four different conditions: a baseline, where they slept as normal and didn’t drink any alcohol, one where they drank enough alcohol to reach 0.05 percent breath alcohol concentration, one where they were sleep restricted to just five hours, and one where they consumed enough booze to reach 0.05 percent and slept just five hours.
The men rated their sleepiness as highest when they had a breath alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent—less than the legal limit for driving—and were sleep deprived. They also showed a greater amount of deficits on tests of attention and slower reaction times in the combination group than when they just had alcohol or were just short on sleep.
Also, the peak impairments didn’t occur until after the peak breath alcohol consumption hit. Performance deficits were highest 90 minutes after the guys drank the booze, or 30 minutes after the breath alcohol concentration reached the highest level.
What’s more, their performance issues didn’t return to baseline levels until two and a half hours following their alcohol consumption. The fact that they were allowed to take breaks between the tests to avoid fatigue didn’t help at all, either.
These findings suggest that you need to be extra cautious with your drinking following nights when you were short on sleep—even if you’re just drinking an amount that will keep you under the legal limit. Plus, you should avoid performing “safety critical tasks” for at least two and a half hours after the consumption of alcohol, the researchers write.
“Many individuals may make a decision to drive based on the amount of alcohol consumed and the time since consumption,” says study author Clare Anderson, Ph.D. in a statement. Our data suggest this represents an unperceived risk following inadequate sleep, since performance impairment remains many hours after alcohol was consumed,” said Dr. Clare Anderson.
Plus, a lack of sleep isn’t the only thing that can affect how booze affects you. These six surprising things can get you drunker, faster, too.
source: Menshealth
via: INFORMATION NIGERIA
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