April is Alcohol Awareness Month.

This is an excellent opportunity for reflection as well as help dispel some harmful myths surrounding alcohol. According the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 47.5% of the population consumed alcohol in the past 30 days—that’s approximately 134.7 million people. While many people can consume alcohol without experiencing harmful consequences, there are many who do face challenges with it. While initially innocent, many people accidentally spread misinformation. Nicasa Behavioral Health Services would like to dispel some myths that we have heard most recently.

Myth 1: A beer before bed helps you sleep.
Fact: While alcohol is a depressant on the central nervous system, it can actually negatively affect your sleep. While it may help you fall asleep quickly, it disrupts your deep sleep cycle—specifically your REM sleep. Your rapid eye motion (REM) sleep is where you dream, but also the most restorative part of sleep. Disrupting this cycle can lead a person to feeling more tired and more distracted during the day because restorative sleep was not achieved.

Myth 2: Alcohol can help with anxiety and decrease stress.
Fact: While some people use alcohol at the end of a long week to unwind and de-stress from their jobs or other anxiety-inducing events—it is not a long-term solution. While it does make you feel more at ease and loosened up initially, studies are showing it can make you feel more anxious the day after. Using alcohol to reduce the symptoms of anxiety can actually worsen your mental health overall, and may cause overreliance on alcohol to cope. Alcohol use does not help to resolve the underlying concerns or lead to healthy coping strategies for these symptoms. Frequent, long-term use of alcohol to handle anxiety and stress can lead to increased tolerance, increased consumption, and additional physical health concerns.

Myth 3: Alcohol only affects your liver.
Fact: Alcohol can cause an inflammatory response in your body, in addition to being absorbed through your mucus membranes directly into your blood stream. Alcohol affects all of your body systems. Not only can alcohol damage your liver, it has been linked to 7 different kinds of cancer. This past April the American Society of Clinical Oncologists has called for states to strengthen their alcohol policies to help decrease these cancer risks related to alcohol use. In addition to these concerns, it can also cause heart disease, high blood pressure, and kidney issues.

Myth 4: Mixing energy drinks and alcohol is fine.
Fact: Energy drinks are stimulants, and alcohol is a depressant on your central nervous system. These conflicting substances can be hard for your body to regulate and metabolize efficiently. While the energy drink may mask the drowsiness and intoxication of alcohol, it can lead to over-intoxication, alcohol poisoning, dehydration, sleep disruptions, and heart problems. Typically mixing any substances can lead to unpredictable reactions and is not advised.

Myth 5: Drinking more alcohol can help you overcome a hangover.
Fact: The “hair of the dog” hangover cure is probably most harmful and dishonest myth there is. While it feels like you are reducing your nausea and other uncomfortable symptoms of a hangover, it is actually delaying your body’s natural recovery process. This can make it even more difficult to recover by adding more alcohol that your body will need to process.

If you find you are drinking more frequently or drinking more than you intended to, there are treatments that can help you cut back or stop entirely depending on your goal. Nicasa Behavioral Health Services has group and individual substance use counseling that can help to resolve your concerns. Our counselors can also provide treatment for any mental health and problem gambling concerns that might be occurring at the same time—also known as co-occurring treatment.

If you or a loved one are experiencing concerns with alcohol or other substances, Nicasa is here to help. If you would like to learn more about our treatment and support programs, please contact us at 847-546-6450 or info@nicasa.org