Researchers uncover how alcohol disrupts sleep, offering hope for better treatments.
Scientists are making headway in understanding how alcohol induces disrupted sleep, thanks to a study using fruit flies. These tiny creatures are helping researchers uncover the brain processes that lead to long-lasting sleep problems after drinking. The hope is that this work will eventually lead to better treatments for people struggling with alcohol-related insomnia.
More than 10% of Americans experience alcohol use disorder, and many of them battle serious sleep disruptions. Even after quitting, they often have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep for months, increasing the risk of relapse. Finding effective ways to treat this problem has been challenging, in part because the way alcohol affects the brain’s sleep systems isn’t well understood.
Researchers at the University of Utah have now identified specific brain signals and cell groups involved in alcohol-induced sleep disturbances. By studying fruit flies, they discovered that alcohol’s impact on sleep is tied to certain brain cells that seem to function similarly in humans. The findings, published in Current Biology, offer fresh insights into why alcohol can disrupt sleep for days.
The study showed that fruit flies react to alcohol in ways that resemble human behavior. A small dose makes them more active, while a higher dose slows them down and eventually knocks them out. However, once the alcohol leaves their system, the flies take longer to fall asleep and wake up more frequently—much like people going through withdrawal. The alcohol induces disordered sleep.
The severity of these effects depends on the amount of alcohol consumed. A small dose that boosts activity doesn’t seem to affect sleep much. But when flies get a bigger dose, their sleep is disturbed for days. This suggests that the sedative effects of alcohol may trigger a reaction in the brain that leads to overactivity later on.
One key finding was the role of a brain signal called acetylcholine, which helps regulate memory and motivation. When researchers reduced acetylcholine levels, alcohol’s impact on sleep became even more severe. Even a low dose of alcohol was enough to cause lasting insomnia in these cases.
Using genetic tools, scientists zeroed in on a specific group of acetylcholine-producing brain cells responsible for alcohol-induced sleep problems. These cells are located in a part of the fly brain that works similarly to the hippocampus in humans, a region involved in learning and memory. When researchers blocked acetylcholine signals in this area, flies became much more sensitive to alcohol’s effects on sleep.
Interestingly, shutting down these brain cells alone wasn’t enough to cause sleep issues—alcohol still had to be present. This suggests that alcohol interacts with these cells in a complex way rather than simply turning them off or on.
The ultimate goal is to develop better treatments for people dealing with alcohol withdrawal. Current sleep medications affect large areas of the brain, often leading to dependency and unwanted side effects. By pinpointing a small set of brain cells linked to alcohol-related sleep problems, researchers may be able to create more targeted treatments with fewer risks.
Fruit flies offer a valuable model for studying alcohol-induced insomnia because scientists can easily examine how different genes and brain circuits contribute to the problem. Next, researchers plan to identify specific genes that play a role in these sleep disruptions. Since many of the same genes control alcohol-related behaviors in both flies and humans, these discoveries could have significant implications for understanding and treating sleep issues in people recovering from alcohol use disorder.
This research was supported by funding from several institutions, including the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the National Institutes of Health. The findings add to growing evidence that alcohol induces sleep issues by altering brain activity in ways that persist long after drinking stops. By uncovering the biological mechanisms behind these effects, scientists hope to pave the way for new treatments that help people in recovery get the rest they need to stay sober.
Sources:
Fruit fly research uncovers brain signals behind alcohol-induced insomnia
Alcohol induces long-lasting sleep deficits in Drosophila via subsets of cholinergic neurons
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