Alcohol is a sedative, so it genuinely can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep. The problem shows up later: as your body metabolises the alcohol over the night, it triggers a rebound effect that fragments sleep, suppresses REM sleep, and often causes waking in the early hours unable to get back to sleep.
Alcohol also relaxes the muscles of the throat, worsening snoring and making sleep apnea symptoms measurably worse for anyone who has it, even undiagnosed.
The disruption is dose-dependent — one drink several hours before bed has a much smaller effect than two or three drinks closer to bedtime. As a rough guide, stopping drinking at least 3-4 hours before bed reduces the rebound-awakening effect considerably.
If you regularly rely on alcohol to fall asleep, that's worth examining directly — it tends to stop working as well over time (tolerance builds), while the sleep-quality cost stays the same or worsens.
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