Parties and alcohol are a great mix, but definitely not alcohol and good sleep. Our body functions accordingly to an endogenous system known as the Circadian Cycle (more commonly known as the biological clock), responsible for making us feel awake or asleep whenever we need to.
If you understand how it works, you could use it to your advantage and plan your work out/study time. Unfortunately, if those cans of beer sitting in the fridge ends up down your throat, your circadian system will go out of whack and you’ll wake up to the worst morning ever (especially if alcohol was consumed prior to sleep). What’s worse, the disruption in Circadian Cycle due to alcohol abuse can increase the drive to drink, leading to a vicious cycle of alcohol dependence and circadian dysfunction.
Cut the story short, if you’ve got a morning lecture the following day which you don’t want to miss, drink in the day instead! I mean, just skip the whole party and get to bed :)
Citations:
Brager, A. J., Ruby, C. L., Prosser, R. A. and Glass, J. D. (2010), Chronic Ethanol Disrupts Circadian Photic Entrainment and Daily Locomotor Activity in the Mouse. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 34: 1266–1273. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01204.x
THAKKAR, M. M., ENGEMANN, S. C., SHARMA, R., MOHAN, R. R. & SAHOTA, P. 2010. Sleep-wakefulness in alcohol preferring and non-preferring rats following binge alcohol administration. Neuroscience, 170, 22-27.
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