Will booze before bed help you sleep?

It’s time to put down that third glass of wine.

We’ve renamed it Unhappy Hour.

Imagine this: you went out last night for “one drink”, and you stuck to it. Seriously. One standard drink. Not even a, ‘One – but the bottle’s nearly empty so shove it all in’ measure. Just ONE.

How to fall asleep in less than one minute.

So we’ll forgive your smugness if the words ‘victory dance’ feature in your plans for tomorrow morning. But before you can fist-pump the air, something else is pumping… and it’s your head. It’s 4am. You’re awake, you can’t sleep, you’re grumpy, you’re tired and you’re thinking, NOOOOO, this is it. I can’t drink anymore. I’M OOOOOOOLD.

The good news? When it comes to booze, we’re all in the same boat. The bad news? That boat is the Titanic.

Sleep + alcohol does not end well.

Science has spoken.

17 reasons you’re not getting enough sleep at night.

Dr Christian Nicholas, a neuroscientist at the University of Melbourne’s Sleep Laboratory, monitored the effect that a vodka and orange nightcap had on 24 participants who were invited for a rather unusual sleepover in his lab.

He found that after drinking the booze, people experienced ‘delta’ brain activity – the good stuff, linked to restorative deep sleep – but also ‘alpha’ activity, which tends to occur when the brain is awake.

Having both of these going on together is a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time – it’s hard to get a nice pattern going. So, overall, your sleep quality sucks.

Worse news still for your barman. If you regularly booze before bed over long periods of time, “This could have significant detrimental effects on daytime well-being and neurocognitive function such as learning and memory processes,” Dr Nicholas adds.

5 things you never knew about alcohol.

The silver lining is that alcohol does make you nod off quicker. But if you don’t want to feel like a zombie the next day, it’s better to try one of these (mind- and liver-approved) nightcaps instead…

1. Warm milk

Heard of ‘tryptophan’? Not an X-Men baddie, but an amino acid that helps to produce sleep-inducing brain chemicals. Milk contains tryptophan, so for a while people thought this was why it helped you nod off. But science – ever the rebel – decided otherwise.

Turns out all the other amino acids in milk actually block tryptophan from getting to the brain, a bit like bouncers. Eating carbs (ie cereal) with milk counteracts this – just like slipping the bouncer $10 to queue-jump. The reason warm milk – and just milk – works is psychological. It’s soothing, like when we were babies.

2. Cherry juice

It sounds unlikely, but research has proven it. Drinking 30ml of sour cherry juice twice a day was found to help produce melatonin – a hormone that promotes sleep.

Camomile tea Studies confirming exactly why are thin on the ground, but it’s thought that a substance called apigenin has a mild sedative effect in the brain. In one clinical trial, 10 patients are reported to have immediately fallen into a deep sleep. Though, as with milk, it’s thought that simply the ritual of drinking herbal tea before bed may be as powerful a sleep trigger as anything it contains.

3. Banana smoothie

Contains vitamin D and calcium, both associated with decreased odds of having problems falling and staying asleep, according to the Journal of Sleep Research. Lights out.

 What helps you sleep? Let us know in the comments below.

For your next big night, try one of these cocktail recipes – they’re a little healthier than the usual ones: