Alcohol is something cultural. We provide as a way to celebrate any event and, although it seems that new generations have given a Volantazo to consumption habitsin America, Asia and Europe we drink a lot, a lot of alcohol. So much that The seven countries that lead the list They are European and there are even those who traditionally have a drink – or two – as a tool to reconcile sleep.
Ignoring Other implications in our body And overlooking the alleged benefit because it acts as a sedative, making us reconcile the dream before, the studies confirm that drinking alcohol to sleep is a terrible idea.
Well. It is curious, but for a while, “there was the idea that drinking in moderation was good for health.” Are the words to National Geographic by Ian Colrain, president and director of a research institute that he has published various studies about insomnia and alcohol consumption before sleeping. Now, it may seem exaggerated, but popular culture is full of references to how a suck of alcohol before sleep is beneficial.
Also, the advertising He took care of this, just as there were studies that claimed that tobacco was Well. It is always interesting to look where the financing of these studies comes from. But well, Colrain completed his speech commenting that the approach had changed thanks to the studies, pointing out that “there are no real health benefits in drinking.” And that includes fighting insomnia.
Cup before sleeping. Insomnia is a problem for millions of people. Although the idea we have to ‘sleep well’ is related to ‘sleep of the pull’, It seems that it is a myth and that we are entering and leaving the different stages of sleep. Even waking us several times during the night without realizing. But reconciling the dream, as we say, is a problem and a nuisance, something that there are adults who seek to remedy with a drink before sleeping. AND No milkprecisely.
Although it is demonstrated that Coffee, alcohol and tobacco are our enemies When we want to fall asleep, among many othersColrain argued that, although many seems to have a good idea before bedtime, the price to pay is a worse quality in sleep.
Sleep worse. Logic seems overwhelming: a -o some- drinks before sleeping can have a sedative effect, which helps us reconcile the dream before when we get into bed. The problem is that, although there are sleep -related myths, which is a repairing activity is not one of them. In fact, in sleep deprivation experiments that have been carried out with animals, Most die After a month.
“The dream is designed to provide us with a kind of heart holiday, reducing heart rate or blood pressure,” said Colrain. The problem is that “with alcohol, the heart rate rises and, if you take several glasses before bedtime, you will go to bed with a high heart rate.”
How many glasses are necessary. In a study Published in 2021, Colrain and his team compared the effects of high, low and zero consumption in alcohol from half an hour to two hours before bedtime. High supposed four drinks for men and three for women; Bajo were two drinks for men and one for women. The group that took placebo ingested without alcohol.
What they discovered was that both high and low consumption increased heart rate. Others studies They have focused on ReM sleep, which is the phase in which most dreams occur and it is a fundamental part of those “vacation for the organism” that we have during the night. If that ReM dream does not fulfill its purpose, We will wake up worse.
Not a single test. Researchers and sleep doctors have argued in recent years that there is no evidence that any amount of alcohol improves sleep quality. As we say, what they have discovered is that, although drinks may help us sleep more deeply due to the aforementioned sedative effect, Rem sleep cycles are going to be constantly interrupted during the night, so you will really have slept worse.
Irony. In the long run -although it depends on the person, since each one metabolizes alcohol in a different way -alcohol can produce precisely the opposite. Sleep disorders have been related to alcohol consumption, which forms a vicious circle in people who have left alcohol.
According to Colrain, “sleep disorders are a clear route of relapse” by making people who have depends again on the promise of that better dream thanks to the cup before sleeping.
Solutions. Obviously, they are not in alcohol. For years, science has tried to answer the question of How to fall asleep fasterwith multitude of tricks and strategies. The problem is that there is no clear answer. Colrain told National Geographic that something we can do is drink a glass of milk or an infusion without tein or caffeine.
It also helps to have routines with the same schedule every day before sleep and we can Listen to a podcastbut nothing too lively like one of crimes. And, of course, forget a copazo before going to bed.
Images | Jeff Siepman, Solving Healthcare
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