Is It Safe to Combine Alcohol and Sedatives?

On the other hand, depressants slow you down by decreasing your heart rate and blood pressure. They can help you feel relaxed and, on the extreme end, completely sedate you (2). They may increase your blood pressure and heart rate and give you more energy. In high doses, they can cause insomnia and make you jittery and impulsive (1).

But once you start drinking, you can build a tolerance to the de-stressing addiction recovery art effects of alcohol. This can make anxiety and stress even more difficult to cope with. At first, drinking can reduce fears and take your mind off of your troubles.

Another medication, called disulfiram, causes negative symptoms such as nausea after consuming alcohol. These side effects may help discourage people with AUD from drinking. Depressants cause slower brain activity, leading to muscle relaxation and a calm mood. Research has also shown that drinking alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer.

Stimulant effects of alcohol

Then, when the alcohol and drugs wear off, withdrawal symptoms can kick in. Alcohol and sedative withdrawal can be significant and even possibly fatal. The intensity of the withdrawal symptoms and cravings may make it difficult for a person to stop using alcohol or taking sedatives. Compulsive drug and/or alcohol abuse is the hallmark of addiction. Both sedatives and alcohol have mind-altering effects and can lead to poor decisions and risky behaviors.

Medical

However, in larger doses, alcohol typically causes sluggishness, disorientation, and slower reaction times, as it decreases your mental sharpness, alcohol storage blood pressure, and heart rate. In small doses, it can increase your heart rate, aggression, and impulsiveness. In larger quantities, alcohol switches from a stimulant to a depressant. It slows down your nervous system, blood pressure, and heart rate, leading to mental fogginess, drowsiness, and lack of coordination. Alcohol is a depressant that reduces the speed of brain activity. Research indicates that it can have negative effects even in low amounts.

1 Alcoholism: Sleep EEG Data

They can cause people to become dependent on them beyond their control. Moderate drinking is defined as one and two drinks per day for women and men, respectively (5). Note that when it comes to alcohol, moderation is key to avoiding negative health effects. How alcohol affects you personally depends on your body chemistry, how much you drink, and your alcohol tolerance.

For men, sensorimotor gray matter volumemade a significant independent contribution to N550 amplitude with the amount of varianceexplained significantly improving with the addition of diagnostic group. These datasupport the hypothesis that diminished gray matter volume in chronic alcoholismcontributes to an impaired ability to generate large amplitude slow waves, although notall the variance could be explained by loss of volume. Poor connectivity (i.e., deficitsin white matter integrity) likely also contributes, although relations between evokedpotential amplitude and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of white matter integrityare yet to be tested. Interestingly, in women, while age and temporal gray matter volumeprovided the best model, the addition of diagnosis did not improve the model. This form of REM rebound cannot explain theincreased REM in those who have been abstinent for a long time, relative to controls. It ispossible that increased REM sleep may represent a predisposition to altered sleep ratherthan a consequence of alcohol abuse; although REM is not elevated in adolescents with apositive family history of alcoholism (Tarokh et al.2012).

1 Acute effects of alcohol on sleep: repeated administration

1. Alcohol is a depressant that affects the central nervous system (CNS).
2. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that in 2016 around 20 million American adults battled addiction.
3. We also discuss the possible negative effects of alcohol on the body and sleep.

You should not mix alcohol and stimulant or depressant drugs due to the risk of severe side effects. Examples include nicotine, although it’s most frequently characterized as a stimulant, and alcohol, which is primarily a depressant but has some stimulant effects (3, 4). This yellow eyes alcohol article reviews the effects of alcohol, both as a stimulant and a depressant.

Doctors commonly prescribe sedatives to treat conditions like anxiety and sleep disorders. Depressant effects of alcohol occur when your BAC reaches about 0.08 mg/l. Once your BAC reaches 0.2 mg/l or greater, its depressant effects on your respiratory system can become so powerful that they cause coma or death (3). Research suggests that light or moderate wine consumption may reduce the risk of dementia, but drinking an excessive amount of wine increases the chance of dementia and cognitive decline. Yes, initially and in small doses, alcohol does act as a stimulant.