Alcohol lowers my AHI?

weroberts75 · Post by **weroberts75** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:23 am

F3adventure wrote: ↑
Sat May 14, 2011 7:11 am
I have been on therapy for two and a half months and have been struggling to get my AHI down. I have noticed an interesting possible correlation. The last two nights I happened to drink alcohol before bed and have seen significantly lower AHI numbers in the morning.

Although relaxed throat muscles are often the cause of sleep apnea, my apnea has been mixed with anxiety and a tightening of certain muscles in my throat, so it may depend on which muscles are responsible for your apnea... either a relaxing of muscles that should not relax, or an overtightening of muscles that should not be tight.

The more relaxed that I am when I go to bed, the fewer events I have. On a very relaxed night I may have an AHI of 0.2 - 0.4 and sleep very deeply. On a night where I am more tense, I seem more likely to have an AHI of 2 - 3 and not as much really deep sleep.

There are multiple causes of apnea. The good news is that XPAP can treat most of them.

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:33 pm

Note: Alcohol may have unpredictable side effects with diabetics.
Please be cautious if you imbibe--or be the DD.

Auglaze · Post by **Auglaze** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:31 pm

F3adventure wrote: ↑
Sat May 14, 2011 7:11 am
I have been on therapy for two and a half months and have been struggling to get my AHI down. I have noticed an interesting possible correlation. The last two nights I happened to drink alcohol before bed and have seen significantly lower AHI numbers in the morning. My recent AHI has been 10+ and as high as 17 in the last week or so. Actually It was 16 on Tuesday night and 17 on Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday night I had a few drinks in the evening and the following AHI numbers were 6 and 5.5 respectively. I know this is only two data points but it seems like there is a connection here. I have had a lot of great support from the members here so I thought I'd share this with the group. Has anybody else seen a correlation between alcohol and AHI?

Doctors orders- Drink two margarita and call me in the morning!

I too have a significant drop in my AHI when I have a couple drinks. I've seen people suggest that we may not sleep as soundly when this happens but I do not believe that at all.

ChicagoGranny · Post by **ChicagoGranny** » Wed Mar 09, 2022 6:41 pm

Auglaze wrote: ↑
Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:31 pm
I've seen people suggest that we may not sleep as soundly when this happens but I do not believe that at all.

Instead of listening to "people", why not read some actual science? Most cases of OSA are more severe during REM sleep. Alcohol suppresses REM sleep. Less REM sleep means lower AHI. So, it can be concluded that drinking alcohol indirectly lowers AHI. But then there is the problem of insufficient REM which leads to many health problems.

Here is a summary, with citations, of research on alcohol and sleep - https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutriti ... -and-sleep

Conrad · Post by **Conrad** » Thu Mar 10, 2022 9:15 am

F3adventure wrote: ↑
Sat May 14, 2011 7:11 am
I have been on therapy for two and a half months and have been struggling to get my AHI down. I have noticed an interesting possible correlation. The last two nights I happened to drink alcohol before bed and have seen significantly lower AHI numbers in the morning. My recent AHI has been 10+ and as high as 17 in the last week or so. Actually It was 16 on Tuesday night and 17 on Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday night I had a few drinks in the evening and the following AHI numbers were 6 and 5.5 respectively. I know this is only two data points but it seems like there is a connection here. I have had a lot of great support from the members here so I thought I'd share this with the group. Has anybody else seen a correlation between alcohol and AHI?

Doctors orders- Drink two margarita and call me in the morning!

This has been my experience as well. Normally my AHI readings are between 1 and 3. If my wife and I have had a couple of drinks in the evening my AHI reading for that night will be fractional, below 1.

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:19 pm

I had 4.5 oz white zin last night.
Everything was better. Better sleep, lower AHI, bright, bushy, etc. this AM.

Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?

Re: Alcohol lowers my AHI?