Coffee, alcohol, and a good night's sleep

It is well known that people can literally collapse from consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. It is also known that caffeine can help with alertness and delay the onset of sleep or fatigue. Furthermore, a large segment of the population uses these substances to influence their sleep quality.

How many times have you heard of someone having a drink to help them sleep? The same thing happens, albeit in reverse, with caffeine use in the mornings. If you're one of those people who needs coffee in the mornings, you're not alone. In fact, 90% of people use coffee daily to combat drowsiness. Coffee and alcohol are among the most widely used and abused psychoactive substances in the world. However, these two substances are quite detrimental to establishing good sleep hygiene.

Let's start with alcohol. Alcohol can simulate a state of relaxation and tranquility, as it is a sedative. However, it is well-documented that drinking alcohol before bed will prevent your body from reaching deep sleep due to the chemical imbalance and toxicity generated by the substance. In fact, renowned sleep researcher and expert Dr. Mathew Walker comments that, "First of all, alcohol pollutes your sleep with many more awakenings throughout the night." In other words, alcohol prevents you from reaching deep sleep, as it causes multiple episodes of wakefulness during the night. Interestingly, according to a study published in Medical Hypothesis , sleep disturbances are what make people addicted to alcohol successful in achieving sobriety. Also, a curious fact is that more people die each year from sleep-related accidents than from alcohol-related accidents . The reason is that an individual who gets less than six hours of sleep suffers an effect on their performance equivalent to drinking a six-pack of beer.

On the other hand, caffeine (which many people take to feel awake in the morning) works as an adenosine antagonist. Adenosine is the molecule that triggers the cascade of molecules that ultimately make you feel sleepy. The same receptor that adenosine uses is the one that attracts caffeine, and caffeine blocks it. Therefore, when adenosine cannot reach its receptor because caffeine is blocking it, the body delays the onset of the feeling of sleep needed to fall asleep.

So now that you know, make sure you don't rely on these chemicals to get proper rest. Don't overuse caffeine either. Alcohol and caffeine are cheap and dangerous substitutes that disrupt your body's normal circadian rhythms and worsen sleep disturbances. If you use these chemicals, you'll pay a high price that will affect your long-term health and well-being.