Insomnia and Alcohol: Teens Who Drink More May Suffer Increased Sleep Problems, New Study Suggests

Alcohol is a depressant, which lowers neurotransmission levels, reducing activity in the brain.

New findings published in the journal Sleep and presented Wednesday at the 29th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC reveal that sleep problems as well as energy products may ultimately contribute to a teen's risk of drinking alcohol.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from over 2,500 teens via a cross-sectional examination of the association between self-reported measures of trouble sleeping, weekend and weekday total sleep time involving energy product use and past month alcohol use. They also examined associations separately via race/ethnicity among Latinos, Whites, Asians and various other racial and ethnic categories.

"Our findings suggest that teenagers may be using highly caffeinated energy products to cope with sleep loss, and both sleep problems and energy product use are associated with increased risk of alcohol use," Wendy Troxel, lead author of the study and a behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation, said in a statement.

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