Better Sleep Starts with What You Drink: Beverages to Skip at Night

What you drink in the evening might play a bigger role in your sleep quality than you think. From caffeine to sugar to natural stimulants, your favorite beverages could be keeping your brain more alert than you’d like at bedtime. Let’s take a closer look at how your nightly drinks affect your brainwaves and what to skip for a better night’s rest.

Common side effects of caffeine include insomnia, restlessness, muscle twitching, and gastrointestinal discomfort. Caffeine kicks in 30 to 60 minutes after drinking and lingers. Five hours later, half is still in your system. So, drinking coffee late in the day could disrupt your sleep. And if you’re opting for decaf, remember it’s not completely caffeine-free –a cup can contain 2 to 15 milligrams, which can add up if you drink several. Even small amounts can affect sensitive sleepers. With the growing popularity of energy drinks, experts are urging consumers to take a closer look at ingredient labels, especially for hidden sources of caffeine. These can include synthetic caffeine, yerba mate, and guarana.

Aside from caffeine, sugar is another common ingredient in popular beverages that may disrupt your sleep. To get around that, a lot of people turn to artificial sweeteners. They’re sugar-free, but not totally free of side effects. Take aspartame, for example. It’s been around for decades, but some studies have raised concerns about its possible effects on mood, memory, and sleep in certain people. The World Health Organization classifies it as a possible carcinogen.

Alcohol is dangerous to consume for many reasons. Those who do drink it may feel drowsy at first, but this intoxicant can actually disrupt their sleep in several ways. It reduces the body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates the sleep cycle. It also relaxes airway muscles and dulls the brain’s response to breathing issues, making sleep apnea worse.

By now, it’s clear that anything that keeps you from getting deep, uninterrupted sleep can leave you feeling tired the next day. And one common culprit? Those late-night bathroom trips. Certain foods and drinks act like natural diuretics, meaning they make your body get rid of extra water, often at the wrong time. So, if you’re waking up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, your dinner or bedtime snack might be to blame. Fruits like watermelon, grapes, and berries, along with herbal teas like dandelion or parsley, can have this effect. They’re healthy, but timing matters. If you want a better night’s sleep, try to enjoy these earlier in the day and skip them in the hours before bedtime.