The Reason You Wake Up Early When Hungover Is Due To The Loss Of Neurotransmitter Called GABA

Even if you drink alcohol extremely rarely, you’ve probably had those moments of restlessness and sleeplessness in mornings after a night out with friends. Have you ever wondered why you wake up hungover without being able to fall back asleep until it’s gone?

Your body reacts to even a single alcoholic beverage in lots of different ways. Your nervous system is the one that’s affected the most. One of the things alcohol does to your body is tricking your brain into using more and more GABA. The GABA transmitters are the main neurotransmitters in your nervous system and they are responsible for a number of things. One of their functions is to keep you asleep. So when the alcohol you’ve consumed makes your brain use more and more of the GABA, you actually have less of it when you fall asleep after drinking than when you go to bed on an average and uneventful night.

Therefore, you’re often woken up for no reason and you’re completely hungover without the ability to go back to sleep and soothe your mind and body.

This phenomenon is actually called the Rebound Effect and it means that you body can’t enter into deep sleep mode. The Alcohol is like a fast acting substance and it takes a couple of mins to get to your brain. Unfortunately its effect doesn’t last forever and you will soon feel not so happy or sleepless. Therefore, after a night a heavy drinking you will feel tired, but you will not be able to take a good rest.

Here are some tips on what to do if you are planning on going out and drinking and want to have a good sleep:

1. Eat something before going out.
2. Drink a lot of water (not Coke, Juice, Redbul).
3. Go home early.
4. Prepare some good night snack before going out (if you eat plenty of food it will be easy for you to fall into deepsleep).