A drink or a good night’s sleep: pick one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bad news for you OP. I used to enjoy great wine pairings with high end meals too, prior to age 60. It just doesn’t work for me at all now. Not only does it destroy my sleep and wreck my next day, but now I find I don’t even enjoy the wine any more and it kills the food experience. It’s wack.

OP. What do you do at dinners now? I don’t generally like mocktails because they are almost always too sweet. What works best for you as a pairing?

[Anonymous]

Stop drinking, start sleeping well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It helps me a lot to have an electrolyte drink before bed (nuun tablet). I also wear my Fitbit to sleep and notice my sleep stats as far as which behaviors/habits prevent me from getting deep sleep (heart rate below resting level for the entire night). Alcohol does disrupt it, but hydration helps.

Taking my Claritin at night was also messing with my sleep. That plus alcohol made extra crappy sleep. Now I don’t take Claritin at bedtime. So, try and identify if medications, stress, or. other factors are contributing. When I minimize the other factors, the alcohol impact isn’t as bad.

OP. I wear an Apple Watch and can see that the evenings I have a glass of wine with dinner, my heart rate remains elevated for much of the night and I have more frequent wakeups even if I don’t remember them all.

I actually am lucky in that I sleep well most nights and since I only have a glass of wine every two weeks or so, I have a pretty good comparison.

The tip about electrolytes is interesting and I may experiment with that.

[Anonymous]

I've started throwing up in the middle of the night after drinking ONE glass of wine.

[Anonymous]

I have fabulous perimenopausal insomnia without ever taking to drink, OP! Maybe I should try drinking!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bad news for you OP. I used to enjoy great wine pairings with high end meals too, prior to age 60. It just doesn’t work for me at all now. Not only does it destroy my sleep and wreck my next day, but now I find I don’t even enjoy the wine any more and it kills the food experience. It’s wack.

OP. What do you do at dinners now? I don’t generally like mocktails because they are almost always too sweet. What works best for you as a pairing?

Water. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

I do better when I drink earlier and then hydrate later in the evening. A glass of wine at 5pm followed by dinner with several glasses of water doesn't seem to bother me. But if I have wine or cocktails later especially after dinner I have a much worse night sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"gummies" are the stupidest of stupid ideas. You have no idea what's in them, they're not regulated at all. THC extracts have been linked to CHS and other horrible withdrawal syndromes, most edibles have dyes and synthetics in them, they're crap for your teeth, and you'll build a tolerance faster than you think.

And that's before we get into what you're doing flooding your brain with neurotransmitters and activating your endocannabinoid syndrome all willy-nilly.

Calling it a cutesy name and treating it like a snack doesn't make it less of a drug. Gummies are for idiots.

OP. I am not moving to gummies. I tried one once and hated it. It is not an option for me.

Also, I don’t really enjoy wine for the relaxation anyhow. I like it with high quality food, and the only time I have a glass is when I am at a very nice restaurant. I drink maybe 2-3 glasses of wine a month, always with a nice meal.

I am sad to lose that culinary experience because I love a good wine pairing but that is where I am, it sounds like. I like the culinary experience, but I like sleep and not feeling like garbage the next day more.

I'm with you. I like the taste, and I like to cook and think about what kind of wine or beer will taste good with what I've made.

I'm really not interested in giving it up completely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've started throwing up in the middle of the night after drinking ONE glass of wine.

Oh goodness. This sounds awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life? I do not drink much at all, maybe 2-3 glasses of wine a month with a nice dinner. But I have always really enjoyed that nice glass of good wine.

I’m early 50s, and have noticed that over the past year as I am in perimenopause, I can’t even have that single glass of wine if I want to sleep. I wake up tired, I get night sweats, I have to go to the bathroom and my sleep is interrupted. This is after literally a single glass of wine, I never have more than one.

What the heck is this horror show? I’m barely drinking! I just want the occasional glass of wine with a nice dinner but I am more hungover from a single stupid glass than far worse evenings when I was 22.

Does it get better? Am I doomed to never enjoy a nice wine pairing again without paying the price for 24 hours? Please give me hope.

This is your new reality. And it’s not a peri thing — I’m a man and it affects me the same way.

I choose sleep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of my life? I do not drink much at all, maybe 2-3 glasses of wine a month with a nice dinner. But I have always really enjoyed that nice glass of good wine.

I’m early 50s, and have noticed that over the past year as I am in perimenopause, I can’t even have that single glass of wine if I want to sleep. I wake up tired, I get night sweats, I have to go to the bathroom and my sleep is interrupted. This is after literally a single glass of wine, I never have more than one.

What the heck is this horror show? I’m barely drinking! I just want the occasional glass of wine with a nice dinner but I am more hungover from a single stupid glass than far worse evenings when I was 22.

Does it get better? Am I doomed to never enjoy a nice wine pairing again without paying the price for 24 hours? Please give me hope.

This is your new reality. And it’s not a peri thing — I’m a man and it affects me the same way.

I choose sleep.

Interesting, thanks for posting. I didn’t realize men were impacted the same way. But now that I think about it, my dad who always enjoyed a single glass of wine with nice restaurant meals when I was a kid no longer does that. He stopped drinking entirely. I didn’t make the connection to bad sleep though.

[Anonymous]

90 percent of the time, I will pick sleep.
Every so often, it's still nice to let loose and unwind with margaritas -- but I know my sleep will be sweaty/interrupted and I'll wake up to pee 100 times too. With age, it has become increasingly not worth it. I often get a mocktail instead when out.

[Anonymous]

My sleep is absolutely terrible whether I have alcohol or not. It's so frustrating because none of the tips for better sleep seem to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sleep is absolutely terrible whether I have alcohol or not. It's so frustrating because none of the tips for better sleep seem to help.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Same. I keep fooling myself and having a glass and then regretting it. Night sweats. Anxiety next day. It’s not worth it. But I do like a nice glass with dinner when I go out. It’s not the same with a cocktail. I’ve discovered some de-alcoholized wines and drink them at home. But restaurants don’t always have that option.