“And What About Alcohol - Is It Good, or Bad For My Sleep?” [2 Min Read]

This is a question I get literally after every single talk or keynote that I give.

Here's What I Answer...

Alcohol is the most abused sleep drug in our society, because it reduces our sleep onset latency, which means that we fall asleep faster with alcohol.

And this feels like a benefit for many people, especially for those of us who struggle to unwind and calm down at night. But the price that we pay for this is tremendously high.

The problem with alcohol is we cannot fall into deep sleep stages, the most rejuvenating part of our sleep, with alcohol in our blood. And when the alcohol wears off in the middle of the night, our brain thinks that it's time to wake up and alcohol boosts our need to urinate.

And when we analyze our client's data, we see this over and over again. We have more wake ups, lower heart rate variability, higher resting heart rate, and significantly less and later deep sleep stages.

To Sum It Up, Late Alcohol Destroys Our Recovery At Night. But What's The Solution?

Well, my number one recommendation for you is drink alcohol as early as possible.

This might be counter cultural, but it's the best we can do to support our recovery at night. So, if you have a dinner with business partners where you feel that you need to drink some alcohol, start directly with the long drinks and go easier over time, not the other way around.

Try to give your body as much time as you can between your last drink and your sleep time. And most importantly, don't let alcohol become a daily habit, your daily calm down strategy. Keep it for the social highlight events and then enjoy it wholeheartedly, because it's all about our daily habits, right? Not the exceptions.

If you drink alcohol on a daily basis late in the evening the burden is just too high for your overall recovery, your performance, your health, and ultimately your happiness.

Thank You For Reading :)

Link to corresponding 2 Min Micro Podcast: https://spoti.fi/33h5blw

What Are Your Thoughts About Alcohol? Please Let Me Know in The Comments Below...

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