A Quick Note About Alcohol and Sleep

One more thing that isn’t great about an evening drink or two: it can really mess up your sleep. The New York Times Ask Well column concedes that glass of wine or two may help us get to sleep, but warns that post-drink sleep is generally less salutary than no-drink sleep. That because, as the Times reports, “alcohol disrupts what’s known as your sleep architecture, the normal phases of deeper and lighter sleep we go through every night. A night of drinking can “fragment,” or interrupt, these patterns, experts say, and you may wake up several times as you ricochet through the usual stages of sleep. The second half of your sleep may be particularly unsatisfying, as alcohol levels drop and your brain becomes more active, resulting in vivid dreams and unwanted waking moments. And yes, you will probably have to get up to pee a couple of times. Read more in the New York Times Ask Well column.