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Common Drinks to Help You Sleep And 2 That Can Keep You Up at Night

Heart Matters

Are you having restless nights? There’s a chance your late-night beverage choice is having a negative effect on your sleep patterns. The wrong drink choice can affect your sleep quality, delay your body clock, fragment your sleep, and more.

Insufficient sleep can affect the quality of our lives. Regular loss of sleep can affect our health and safety, brain function, mood, and relationships with others. Scientists have found that not only do we need enough sleep, but we also need enough of the right kind of sleep. Sleeping does much more than provide rest: it recharges both the mind and body. It allows us to repair physical and psychological damage and function well. 

Mareefe/ Pexels | Nap time is also a happy hour

People who regularly get enough good-quality sleep are likely to learn better, recall information better, be better protected from physical and mental illness, and live longer. From warm milk to chamomile tea to a plethora of wellness drinks, there’s no shortage of beverages available that have claims drinking them can help you sleep. But which ones might actually serve your slumber? Here are the most common drinks you can make at home to help improve your sleep.

Chamomile tea

Chamomile is a daisy-like flower that is part of the Asteraceae family. Tea made from this plant has been consumed for ages. It has multiple health benefits, including relieving cold symptoms, reducing inflammation, and improving skin health. The tea is made by infusing chamomile flowers in hot water. 

Chamomile tea, like warm milk, is another more traditional option in the world of natural sleeping solutions. Experts have recommended the use of chamomile for years as an aid for those who suffer from insomnia. Often, this tea is very calming and soothing — as well as being caffeine-free. Sometimes, people will pair their chamomile tea with other natural remedies, such as magnesium supplements, to help enhance the effects.

Tranmautritam/ Pexels | Green tea contains healthy bioactive compounds that improve brain functioning and help in reducing weight

Decaffeinated green tea

Green tea is generating a lot of interest in the modern world today thanks to its ability to promote weight loss. However, if you remove the caffeine boost from green tea, it has sleep-inducing benefits, too.

Green tea contains the amino acid known as theanine, which has been proven to help reduce stress and promote more restful sleeping patterns. While the high caffeine levels of regular green tea cancel out those benefits when you’re starting your morning, decaffeinated options can be perfect for bedtime.

What to avoid before bed?

Alcohol 

While you might think alcohol helps you sleep, there are negative effects after having a drink at night. The most obvious effect is that alcohol increases the need to urinate at night, easily disrupting your sleep pattern. Alcohol use also can fragment your sleep and decrease your rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Heavy drinking can cause symptoms of insomnia.

Chevanon Photography/ Pexels | Coffee is one of the most popular drinks worldwide, with over 400 billion cups of it being consumed each year

Coffee

The caffeine in coffee can help wake you up in the morning. However, drinking coffee later in the day can have a negative effect on your sleep. It can even delay your body clock.

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