Dr. Matt Walker

And then that timing component, count yourself back, cut yourself off.

Decaffeinated coffee, not too bad if you find the right thing to, if you need that fix.

Alcohol is probably one of the most misunderstood sleep aids in quotes that there is.

It is no sleep aid at all.

Now, if I didn't understand what I know about alcohol and sleep, I would think that too, which is when I have a nightcap just before bed or two, even though I don't wear them,

I may actually just fall asleep very easily.

It feels like I stay asleep very soundly across the night.

So it's a great sleep aid and it really helps me.

There are at least, I would say, three issues with alcohol.

The first is that alcohol is in a class of drugs that we call the sedatives.

And sedation is not sleep.

But when you take on board alcohol in the evening, you mistake the former for the latter, and you think it helps you fall asleep.

The second thing is that because it's sedation, or actually it's probably related to sedation,

If I were to show you the electrical signature of your deep sleep when you're just sleeping naturally versus when you have alcohol in your system, it's not really the same.

It's not a naturalistic form of deep sleep.

It mimics it.

It looks not too dissimilar.

But if I really do my analyses and I almost like that Pink Floyd album where I take the white light of electrical brain activity coming from your head as you're sleeping and split it apart into all of the different components, there are some components that are no longer present or some that are abnormally present.

The second issue with alcohol is that it fragments your sleep.

So it will litter your sleep with all these punctuated awakenings throughout the night.