Heart health1,370 members
How long does alcohol raise your sleeping heart rate?
About a night: on the night members slept after a logged drinking day, their sleeping heart rate averaged 0.6 bpm above their usual level. By the following night, the average showed no rise.
Ultrahuman analyzed sleeping heart rate in 1,370 members wearing the Ultrahuman Ring who logged a drinking day by hand in the app, from July 2025 to June 2026. On the night they slept after that day, the 1,317 members with a reading averaged slightly above their usual level, their own average over the 14 nights before.
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Sleeping heart rate rose for about a night after a day members logged alcohol in the Ultrahuman app. On the night they slept after that day, it averaged 0.6 bpm above their usual level (likely between 0.3 and 0.9 bpm). That average covers 1,317 members and 2,116 logged drinking days. On the following night, the likely range of the average change included no change.
The numbers
A logged drinking day came with a small rise in sleeping heart rate that lasted about a night.
- The night members slept after a logged drinking day was the only night whose likely range sat wholly above the usual level. Sleeping heart rate averaged 0.6 bpm higher that night (likely between 0.3 and 0.9 bpm). That result covers 1,317 members.
- On the following night, the average change was −0.2 bpm (likely between −0.5 and 0.1 bpm), which includes no change, across 1,301 members.
- On the third night, the average change was −0.30 bpm (likely between −0.55 and −0.02 bpm), just below the usual level, across 1,273 members.
How long does sleeping heart rate stay higher after drinking?
Sleeping heart rate sat above the usual level on the night members slept after a logged drinking day, and the rise lasted that one night on average. Ultrahuman compared each of the 4 nights after a logged drinking day with the same member's usual level, which the rules below call the personal baseline.
A logged drinking day was a calendar day the member tagged by hand with any alcohol tag in the app, such as Alcohol, Beer, Wine or Cocktails. The tag had to be saved before the app first recorded the following night's sleep, so a reading seen the next morning could not prompt it. The app records no amount, so every logged day counts the same. Counted days from one person were at least 19 days apart, so no night served two comparisons. The personal baseline was the member's average sleeping heart rate over the 14 nights before the logged day, from at least 10 valid nights recorded on the same ring and firmware version.
Night one was the sleep straight after the logged day, the night of drinking. Nights one to four were each compared with that baseline, and a night counted only with a valid reading on the same ring and firmware version, so each night covers a slightly different group of people. Days without an alcohol tag were not treated as alcohol-free, because members do not tag every drink. Each logged day is compared only with the same person's own nights before it.
Each person counted equally, however many drinking days they logged; the uncertainty ranges resampled whole people.
Figure 1 · Interactive
Sleeping heart rate rose on the night of a logged drinking day
On the night members slept after a logged drinking day, the average change was 0.6 bpm (likely between 0.3 and 0.9 bpm).
Ask Our Data
Answered on this page — nothing you type leaves itThe study planned its precision for the first three nights. This does not predict your own heart rate.
1,270 to 1,317 members · the Ultrahuman Ring
Line chart. The horizontal axis counts nights from a logged drinking day, from night 1, the night slept after that day, to night 4. The vertical axis shows the change in sleeping heart rate from the usual level, in bpm, with a line at zero. The first night sits above zero at 0.6 bpm. The second night sits at −0.2 bpm and the third at −0.30 bpm. The fourth night sits at −0.2 bpm. Two gray lines above and below the points mark the likely range for each night.
The figure shows a likely range that sits wholly above the usual level on the night of drinking. On the following night and the fourth night, the ranges include no change. On the third night, the average sat just below the usual level. One possible reason is weekend drinking: the nights a few days later then tend to be weeknights, while the usual level mixes every day of the week. The analysis did not check this.
What have lab studies found about alcohol and heart rate?
Laboratory studies have also found higher heart rate during sleep after evening alcohol. In a laboratory study, a high dose of alcohol raised heart rate during sleep and shortened total sleep time, compared with a placebo night in the same people [1]. In that study, heart rate during sleep was not related to mood or task performance the next morning [1]. In a second laboratory study, alcohol before bed raised heart rate during sleep in healthy adults, more so after the higher of two doses [2]. The member data add how long a rise lasted in everyday life. Alcohol and REM sleep are covered in Ultrahuman's guide to getting more REM sleep.
Does alcohol also change heart rate variability?
Other research links alcohol with lower heart rate variability (HRV), how much the time between heartbeats varies. A review of studies on alcohol and HRV found that acute alcohol lowered resting HRV in healthy people [3]. A meta-analysis found lower HRV in people with alcohol use disorders than in healthy people [4]. This analysis measured sleeping heart rate only, so it cannot say whether HRV moved in these members.
What this analysis can't tell you
The days members chose to tag may differ from the drinking days they skipped, so the logged days may not represent all drinking. The app records no amount, so the analysis cannot link the size of the rise to how much anyone drank. The analysis did not remove nights that followed further drinking, logged or not, so later drinking may be mixed into the later nights. Travel across time zones was not accounted for. These averages describe members who chose to wear a ring and log drinks, and they cannot show that alcohol caused the change.
What this means for you
If your sleeping heart rate runs a little higher on the night you sleep after a day you logged drinking, that matches this group. That rise was far smaller than the average change from one night to the next, 3.9 bpm in Ultrahuman's article on night-to-night variation. One high night therefore cannot be pinned on drinking. These averages cannot tell you how your own heart rate responds.
The Ultrahuman Ring records sleeping heart rate each night you wear it, and drinking days can be tagged by hand in the Ultrahuman app.
Frequently asked questions
Does the rise depend on how much you drink?
This analysis cannot say whether the rise depends on how much someone drank, because the app records no amount. The average mixes light and heavy drinking days in unknown proportions.
Is sleeping heart rate the same as resting heart rate?
No. Sleeping heart rate is your average heart rate across the whole night's sleep. Resting heart rate is a separate measure, covered in Ultrahuman's resting heart rate explainer, so the numbers here don't apply to it.
Who should not read this as being about them?
People who drink on most days are not well described here, because their usual level would also include drinking nights. The analysis did not look separately at people with a heart rhythm condition. A sleeping heart rate far from your usual level may be worth a conversation with a clinician.
References
This is an observational analysis of Ultrahuman member data. It describes associations, not causation, and it is not a diagnosis or a substitute for medical advice.
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