Alcohol suppresses REM sleep at all doses, reducing its crucial role in long-term memory formation.

“alcohol blocks your REM sleep. And your brain is smart it understands how much REM sleep you should have had, how much REM sleep you have not because the alcohol has been in the system. And finally, in those early morning hours, when you're getting through to sort of, you know, [cross talking] six, seven, 8:00am all of a sudden, your brain not only goes back to having the same amount of REM it would have had, it does that plus it tries to get back all of the REM sleep that it's lost.”

“- Less REM sleep.”

“Well, the way it works is that it's during in the middle of the night really um when alcohol blocks your REM sleep. And your brain is smart. It understands how much REM sleep you should have had, how much REM sleep you have not because the alcohol has been in the system. And finally, in those early morning hours when you're getting through to sort of, you know, 6 7 8 a.m., all of a sudden, your brain not only goes back to having the same amount of REM it would have had, it does that. Plus, it tries to get back all of the REM sleep that it's lost.”

“It too, but through different mechanisms, seems to block REM sleep. And that's why a lot of people when they're using will tell me look you know I I definitely I was dreaming I don't remember you know many of my dreams and then when they stop using uh THC they'll say I was having you know just crazy crazy dreams and the reason is because there is a rebound mechanism REM sleep is very clever and alcohol is the same way in this sense it's the same homeostatic mechanism”

“it also definitely compresses REM cycles so even though when you have a few drinks you're groggy and you think you're sleeping better you're just less conscious but you're actually sleeping worse”

“it also definitely compresses rem cycles”

“alcohol will decrease the amount of rem sleep that you get particularly in the middle um towards the later hours”

“importantly slow wave sleep might increase at the expense of the also important REM sleep at all doses alcohol suppresses REM sleep during the first half of the night and also delays the onset of the first REM sleep period at moderate and high doses of alcohol total REM sleep during the night also decreases remember that REM sleep is is crucial for long-term memory formation”