What can you drink before bed for a good sleep

Drinks that affect sleep quality

Almost all drinks affect sleep to some extent - positively or negatively. Stimulants - coffee, tea, alcohol - should be taken no later than three hours before bedtime, and if a person is prone to insomnia, then more. But drinks that have a calming and relaxing effect on the psyche and body can be drunk immediately before bed.

You don’t need to drink a lot of any drinks at night, even against insomnia - going to the toilet will not have the best effect on your sleep.

Disadvantages of drinking at night

There are also disadvantages to drinking liquids before bed, but they most likely relate to drinking inappropriate liquids and in excessive amounts. The disadvantages are the following:

Increased load on the kidneys. At night, when resting, all organs of the human body work in a gentle manner, resting and recovering. And if you put stress on the kidneys, they will be forced to function literally to the point of wear and tear, which is dangerous, harmful and fraught with the development of certain diseases of the urinary system.
Edema. If you drink a lot at night, the kidneys will not cope with their task and will not remove fluid from the body overnight. Edema will develop, which not only increases the volume of the body and makes it look puffy, but also increases blood pressure and leads to more serious consequences (up to cerebral edema in extreme cases).
Overstrain of the bladder at night. Normally, after filling this hollow organ of the urinary system, a signal is sent to the brain, from where an impulse to empty comes. At night during sleep, brain activity is reduced, the bladder will not empty in a timely manner, its walls will stretch and become irritated, causing pain and increasing the risk of developing cystitis.
Stretching, swelling of the walls of blood vessels. Water retained in the body enters primarily into the blood. As a result, blood-filled vessels stretch, and some of the fluid is able to penetrate their permeable walls, stretching them.
Sleep disorders. Drinking liquid in excessive quantities or shortly before falling asleep can interfere with falling asleep and sound sleep. The emptying signal will wake you up, force you to go to the toilet, and disrupt your sleep. And some drinks have an irritating and stimulating effect on the nervous system, interfering with its relaxation and recovery.

What is good to drink at night?

So what should you drink before bed to help you sleep better? Traditional medicine offers the most soothing and sleep-helping drinks. Honey medicines are very good in this case:

Honey with apple cider vinegar. Dilute a tablespoon of honey and the same amount of natural apple cider vinegar (prepared yourself) in a glass of warm water. Drink half a glass an hour before bedtime and the second immediately before going to bed.
Pumpkin juice with honey. A glass of juice and a tablespoon of honey.

Chamomile tea

Various herbs work well against insomnia. One of the leading places is occupied by chamomile tea, infusion or decoction:

Pour dried chamomile flowers into a thermos at the rate of two tablespoons per glass of boiling water, leave for three hours and drink before bed.

In addition, you can take other flower teas:

Flower collection. Pour a tablespoon of lavender and passionflower into two glasses of boiling water and leave for 20 minutes, then strain. Dilute a quarter glass of infusion with hot water (like ordinary tea leaves) to a glass and drink half an hour before going to bed. The rest can be stored in the refrigerator.

Dill infusion. You can use fresh, dried or seeds. A tablespoon of dry (seeds) or two fresh crushed ones is poured into two glasses of boiling water, infused for 15 to 20 minutes, filtered, and taken just before bed, one or two teaspoons.
Crush the dill seeds in a mortar and pour in 500 ml of Cahors, put on medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce to low and cook for 25 minutes. Strain, cool. Take 50 ml before bed.

Prepared infusions can be stored in the refrigerator for no more than two days.

Kefir or yogurt, milk

A glass of kefir, milk or natural yogurt is a recognized remedy for normalizing the process of falling asleep. It is better if they are at room temperature, but the milk can generally be heated. To make this insomnia remedy even more effective, you can add additional components. What can you drink before bed based on milk:

Lemon juice, honey and walnuts. This is an excellent natural sleeping pill, in addition, it strengthens the immune and nervous systems, and also improves memory. Add two tablespoons of buckwheat honey and the same amount of grated walnuts to 200 ml of lemon juice. Everything is thoroughly mixed and taken one tablespoon at a time, washed down with warm milk, before bed.
Heat a glass of milk slightly and add half a teaspoon of ghee to it. Drink at night, snacking on oatmeal cookies.
Add a pinch of nutmeg, cardamom or cinnamon to a cup of warmed milk. Have a drink at night.
Mix 200 ml of warm milk with a teaspoon of honey and drink 15 minutes before going to bed.
A mixture of garlic, milk and honey - chop a clove of garlic, pour into a glass of milk, boil, cool to room temperature, add a teaspoon of honey. Stir and drink.
Milk with honey and lavender. Add a tablespoon of dried lavender flowers to half a liter of milk and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and leave to cool to room temperature. Strain. Drink a cup before bed, adding honey to taste.

Important! Milk is contraindicated for people with poor lactose intolerance. In this case, fermented milk products are used.

Cherry juice

Cherries contain melatonin, the so-called sleep hormone. And it doesn’t matter what condition it is in - fresh, frozen or dried. Two hours before bedtime, it is recommended to eat something light and wash it down with cherry juice, compote or fresh berries.

Important! This remedy is not suitable if you are intolerant or allergic to cherries.

Green tea

The use of this drink as a remedy for insomnia is ambiguous and depends on the individual characteristics of the body. On the one hand, green tea contains thiamine, which helps you fall asleep, but on the other hand, it contains a lot of caffeine, which has the exact opposite effect. And instead of the expected drowsiness, you can get a boost of vivacity.

Green tea also has a diuretic effect, so drinking it before bed will not contribute to a good restful rest during the night.

Tea with mint and lemon balm

This drink has a calming effect. You can use fresh mint and lemon balm or dried plants.

Pour two teaspoons of mint, lemon balm or their mixture with water, bring to a boil, remove from heat, wrap and let steep for about 20 minutes, strain and cool. Drink before bed. You can add honey. But in Morocco, this drink is prepared not with water, but with milk.

Coconut water

This natural drink is an excellent remedy for combating insomnia; in addition, coconut water eliminates heaviness in the stomach after a heavy meal, which also promotes good sleep. At night, it is recommended to take 200 ml of slightly warmed coconut water. Thus, it will begin to act faster and more effectively.

Get healthy sleep back

Lie down and fall asleep - it would seem, what could be simpler and more natural? We all know very well that this is a normal physiological process that gives us not only rest. Sleep is a time for structuring memories, putting new knowledge into pieces. But at the same time, sleep is behavior.

In the literal sense of the word, our bodies can both learn to sleep well and master the practice of poor sleep. The human body follows a natural - circadian - rhythm and in this matter is very fond of routine and rituals. Even the most creative and advanced ones. Both owls and larks. How can we use this knowledge to our advantage?

Step one. Start getting up and going to bed at the same time, even on weekends

As we have already said, the human body loves habits. Therefore, it is worth teaching him to fall asleep and wake up at the same time - to create a kind of “pattern” of sleep. Of course, on weekends we really want to lie down longer, but bad luck - just when we don’t need to rush anywhere, we usually wake up without an alarm clock. Thank your natural clock for a few extra hours to do the things you need to do.

Step two. Make yourself quiet, dark, cool and comfortable

Somnologists, who know everything about sleep, say that in order to fall asleep, you need to be slightly cold. Therefore, choose a warmer blanket and open the window wider. And at the same time, buy good thick curtains, which are now called the fashionable word blackout, and protect yourself from extraneous noise.

Step three. Designate your bedroom as a place for sleep and sex. Or just sleep

Well, what can you do if almost all the bedrooms are very multifunctional rooms, in which they only take a shower and do not cook food. But, as it turned out, all the electronics that live in the bedroom - TVs, gaming systems, computers, phones, etc. - are a great incentive to cheer up and not fall asleep. Even a small amount of light from a computer monitor can wake up the most tired person. Moreover, the color temperature of monitors is “blue, morning.” Therefore, we put it all out the door - you need to sleep in the bedroom. You can work in other places.

Step four. Down with caffeine, alcohol and nicotine 4 hours before bed

By the way, caffeine can be found in the most unexpected products, and not just in a cup of espresso. Cocoa, chocolate, tea, some types of sweet soda... All these products can act as stimulants that disrupt the process of falling asleep. By the way, nicotine works in exactly the same way.

Read also: How to cope with insomnia?

Contrary to popular belief, drinking alcohol at night does not promote healthy sleep. Although drinking a glass at night can make you sleepy, alcohol disrupts the sequence and duration of the stages of sleep, and you are unlikely to feel rested in the morning.

Step five. Don't interrupt your sleep

The longer a person is awake, the more he wants to go to sleep. Trying to take a nap during the day, of course, invigorates us, but then we have problems falling asleep at night. If you want to sleep in transport or just lie down during the day, try to distract yourself and wait out the acute period of drowsiness by doing something active.

Step five. Physical education hello to sleep

Daily physical activity, which health experts constantly tell us about, is also a way to improve the quality of your sleep. Therefore, at least half an hour of exercise daily is very important. However, you shouldn’t do abs workouts or hula hoops right before bed - you will, of course, be physically tired, but your brain will wake up and decide to stay awake. It’s better to take a walk down the street an hour before lights out.

Step six. Remember your childhood, lullabies and bedtime stories

Do you think bedtime ritual is only for babies? There is nothing like it as we remember, and the adult organism is a slave of habits. Therefore, about fifteen minutes before going to bed, do some kind of “sleep routine”. Find a boring book, lie in the bath, do beauty treatments, or turn on calm music. A cup of herbal tea “for sleep” is also quite suitable.

Step seven. Stop counting sheep

If you can’t fall asleep, don’t toss and turn in bed and try to persuade yourself to fall asleep at all costs. The brain, regardless of your opinion, may consider that the bed is not a place for relaxation and rest, but a territory of anxiety and duress. Therefore, if you cannot go to sleep within 15–20 minutes, get out from under the blanket and go sit or lie down in some other place. When you feel ready to fall asleep, welcome back to bed.

Step eight. Don't drink too much before bed

The need to get up several times a night to go to the toilet makes sleep disrupted and significantly reduces its quality. Scientists have recently discovered, by the way, that interrupted sleep leads to a condition very similar to a morning hangover, and steals several useful “sleepy” hours per week. Therefore, do not drink a lot of liquid 2-3 hours before bed.

Step nine. Sleep is sacred

Sleep is always a priority - a fresh and rested person, by definition, is more productive than a workaholic who finishes the day's tasks after midnight. Staying up late at a party, sitting on social networks, playing computer games and watching endless TV series is an even more meaningless event than midnight labor feats.

Step ten. Don't put off following these rules until later.

Now you feel like you're going to fall face first into the pillow and immediately pass out. But the schedule of a modern person is often very irregular - and the time for insomnia and nightly vigils behind the monitor screen will come. Therefore, start accustoming your body to a sleepy routine, and yourself to a strict schedule now. This will be very useful to you later.

Snezhana Shabanova

Photo thinkstockphotos.com

Drinks that are bad for sleep

There are drinks that, on the contrary, prevent you from falling asleep or, if you manage to fall asleep, make your sleep restless and interrupted.

Alcohol

If you fall asleep after actively drinking alcohol, then sleep will not bring relief - in the morning you will have a headache, feel general fatigue, plus all the “delights” of a hangover. This occurs, in particular, due to depression of the nervous system. In addition, alcohol affects sleep structure.

Although if you use alcohol in medicinal doses, for example, a dessert spoon of cognac at night, it can help you fall asleep, besides, almost all medical tinctures, including those for insomnia, are made with alcohol.

Carbonated drinks

Constant consumption of carbonated drinks, especially at night, leads to chronic lack of sleep. In addition, they cause fermentation in the stomach and intestines, which also makes sleep restless.

Strong tea, coffee

Strong tea and coffee contain a lot of caffeine, which prevents the body and nervous system from relaxing and falling asleep, and sleep rhythms are also disrupted. Therefore, drinking these drinks at night is not recommended.

Benefits of drinking fluids before bed

Drinking a glass of liquid before bed can benefit your body. The advantages of this habit include the following areas of influence:

Replenishing moisture reserves, normalizing hydration levels. Water is the main component of all tissues, and if you do not drink in the required quantities, the risks of dehydration and disruption of internal organs will increase.
Satisfying hunger. Eating at night is not recommended not only because of the risks of weight gain, but also because of the likelihood of sleep disturbances. A glass of liquid will fill your stomach, create the impression of satiety and help you fall asleep faster without thinking about food.
Removing toxins. Together with urine, into which the liquid consumed by a person is converted, toxic and waste substances are removed from the body, and the tissues are cleansed.
Stabilization of metabolism. The rate of metabolism largely depends on the hydration of tissues: in cells deprived of moisture and with a lack of water, metabolic processes proceed more slowly, sometimes with disturbances.
Improving the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. If you drink a little before bed and choose a liquid that is beneficial for the digestive organs, the acidity in the stomach will not increase, the gastrointestinal tract will function in a gentle manner and recover without being overloaded.

What do you drink for snoring?

There is a misconception that snoring interferes with the sleep of others, but not the sleeper himself. This is fundamentally wrong. Snoring is not a harmless disorder; it negatively affects the quality of sleep, and in severe cases can lead to chronic insomnia and cause hypertension. Folk remedies can help get rid of snoring:

White cabbage juice with honey. Add a tablespoon of honey to a glass of juice and stir thoroughly. Drink half a glass at night.
Lungwort decoction. Pour 200 ml of water into a tablespoon of dried lungwort, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for six minutes. Cool, strain and take 100 ml at night.
Mix chopped dandelion root, rosehip leaves and berries in equal proportions. Take one spoonful of the mixture per 200 ml of water. Boil and simmer for 10 minutes (you can bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover for half an hour). Strain and drink in one serving before bedtime.

Traditional medicine has a large arsenal of drinks that can be consumed at night to combat insomnia. As a rule, they additionally strengthen the immune and nervous systems and have a general healing effect on the body. Their use guarantees a good night's rest.

When is the best time to drink

If you drink even a glass of liquid right before bed, you risk waking up an hour and a half later due to a full bladder and the urge to empty it. As a result, sleep will be disrupted, the sequence of its phases will change, the nervous system and the entire human body will not fully relax and recover overnight.

To avoid negative effects, you should choose the optimal time to drink liquid. It is better to drink it at least 50-60 minutes before falling asleep, and ideally an hour and a half. Then the bladder will have time to empty and will not wake you up at night. In addition, the substances contained in the liquid will be partially absorbed, which can have a beneficial effect on the quality of night's rest if you choose drinks wisely.

Is it possible to drink freshly squeezed juices if you have diabetes or a tendency to be overweight?

If you have diabetes and a tendency to be overweight, it is better to give preference to vegetable juices. And if you want fresh fruit, then choose not sweet, but sweet and sour fruits and combine them with vegetables. For example, you can use sweet and sour apples to make juice, and add carrots or celery to them. The taste will only become richer, and the sugar content will be low. There is such a feature: as fruits and berries ripen, they contain more simple carbohydrates, and as vegetables ripen, they contain less.

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What drinks are allowed and recommended to drink before bed?

Some drinks consumed at night help you fall asleep more soundly and improve your sleep. But they should also be drunk wisely and in acceptable quantities. First, consider your individual characteristics: what is useful to one person can harm you. Secondly, know when to stop and don’t drink too much. Thirdly, observe the drinking time, not consuming liquid too late. Below are some drinks you can drink before bed.

Dairy and fermented milk products

Some parents offer their children a glass of warm milk at night as a soothing aid, but this recipe also works for adults. Firstly, the drink contains the beneficial amino acid tryptophan, which promotes the production of melatonin, which is responsible for healthy sleep. Secondly, any warm liquid is soothing, and the taste and smell of milk remind you of distant childhood, when parents always came to the rescue if you didn’t want to sleep or were afraid to fall asleep.

It will be useful to drink a glass of natural yogurt, kefir or yogurt that does not contain artificial additives an hour before bedtime. Any of these drinks contains beneficial bacteria that normalize digestion and strengthen the immune system. Kefir or yogurt also contains tryptophan, which helps you fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly.

Herbal teas

There are plants that have relaxing, sedative and mild hypnotic effects, and based on them you can prepare teas that are useful to drink at night. For preparation, it is better to use lavender, valerian, chamomile, mint or lemon balm, hibiscus, and hop cones.

To make a healthy tea that promotes healthy and restful sleep, brew the selected herbal raw material with boiling water for about five minutes (the proportion is a glass of liquid per teaspoon of herb), strain, cool to a comfortable temperature and drink. And it is better not to add sugar, as it provokes an increase in blood glucose levels, which is unnecessary and harmful before bedtime.

Water

You can also drink regular water at night. But it must be of high quality, filtered and not tap water. You can add a teaspoon of honey to a glass of plain water, which will restore the strength spent during the day and fill the body with energy overnight, relax and improve sleep. You can also add a little lemon juice for taste, but an excessive amount can harm the stomach (the acid will increase the acidity of the gastric juice and cause it to reflux into the esophagus).

Avoid carbonated water, it is not healthy, especially at night. It is also better not to drink mineral water before bed, since the substances included in its composition will not be processed and eliminated at night: their stagnation is harmful to the kidneys, sometimes joints and blood vessels. Set aside this drink for a day.

Fruit or berry juices and smoothies

An hour before falling asleep, you can drink a glass of natural cherry juice: this berry contains a natural source of the sleep hormone melatonin, so the drink will help you fall asleep faster and sleep sounder. But it is better to dilute it with water, since the acid contained in cherries can harm the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, especially if they have diseases (ulcers, gastritis).

A banana smoothie to which you can add milk or kefir is very useful. These tropical fruits contain a lot of potassium, which strengthens the heart muscle and stabilizes the water-salt balance, as well as magnesium, which promotes muscle relaxation and recovery.

Almond milk

Almonds contain a huge amount of nutrients: amino acids (including tryptophan), omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, magnesium, vegetable protein. All these components restore strength after a hard day at work, relax, help you fall asleep faster and sleep better.

To make almond milk, it is enough to grind 40-50 grams of nuts either in a blender or in a coffee grinder to the state of crumbs or powder and dissolve in water or milk in the volume of one glass.

Coconut water

Coconut water is an unusual and exotic drink for many, but it perfectly restores the energy spent during the day, saturates the body with useful substances, restores water and electrolyte balance, reduces stress levels, improves sleep quality, stabilizes metabolic processes, and relaxes tense muscles.

Advice! Coconut water is extracted from coconut kernels or sold prepared in some stores.