Preliminary Evidence That Real World Sleep Timing and Duration are Associated With Laboratory-Assessed Alcohol...

Sleep timing and evening chronotype have been implicated in alcohol use problems but research has yet to study them in relation to theory-driven laboratory-based measures of alcohol use disorder risk. The current study examined (i) whether chronotype, sleep timing, and/or sleep duration are associated with alcohol response (subjective stimulation, sedation, and behavioral disinhibition) and (ii) if sex and race moderate these associations.

Adult drinkers (N = 144; 46 female participants) completed 2 counterbalanced beverage administration sessions (alcohol and nonalcohol) during which they rated stimulation/sedation and completed a cued go/no-go task. They reported bed and waketimes over 10 days.

Later sleep timing was associated with greater increases in alcohol stimulation, but among male and White participants only. Later sleep timing (among male participants) and greater eveningness (examined among White male participants only) were associated with greater overall stimulation on average in the alcohol session relative to the nonalcohol session, irrespective of alcohol consumption. More variable sleep duration was associated with greater increases in sedation.

These findings offer preliminary, but novel evidence that sleep characteristics may relate to the relative stimulating and sedating effects of alcohol, thereby influencing the risk for alcohol problems.