What You Sip Is How You Sleep

Water

Hydrate more intensely in the first half of the day. We tend to forget about hydration before we get thirsty in the afternoon. Drinking copious amounts of water around dinnertime will have us wake up for bathroom breaks and disrupt our sleep several times a night.

Coffee

Avoid coffee past noon. Caffeine has a 6-8 hour half-life meaning 50% of the caffeine you drink at 2pm will still be active in your system at 10pm when you are trying to go to bed. I usually recommend one cup in the morning and that is it. Black or green tea is a good alternative but the same precautions apply to the afternoon consumption.

Alcohol

Avoid alcohol within 2 hours before bedtime. Alcohol is a powerful anti- anxiety substance. However, when it is being metabolized and clearing out of your system it can give you the so-called “rebound” anxiety, essentially making you more anxious than you were before (this is why it is not a good way to deal with your anxiety). Overnight, rebound anxiety can wake you up in the middle of the night with difficulty falling back asleep. So if you are going to have a glass of something, allow at least 2 hours before you will go to sleep. Drinking a glass of water also helps counter the effects of alcohol.

Milk or substitutes

Mils is high in tryptophan, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. My favorite is a small cup with “half&half” of regular and almond milk frothed, with a splash of maple syrup. So yummy and such a soothing bedtime ritual.