If Drinking Alcohol Makes You Sleepy, This Is Why

After a long week, maybe there's nothing you look forward to more than a lively night out, or a cozy night in with a 12-pack of cold ones. You've been fantasizing about the happy hour at your favorite restaurant all day long, but after a drink or two, you're ready to call it a night in favor of an early date with your bed. It's the same story for many people, where just a few drinks of alcohol make them more tired than that Monday morning meeting. We spoke to Destini Moody, a registered dietitian-nutritionist and certified specialist in sports dietetics at VNutrition, who told us the very simple explanation for those drooping eyelids.

"Due to alcohol being a depressant substance, this means that it slows down your central nervous system by calming the neurotransmitters that keep you alert," Moody explains. Alcohol can behave the same way sedatives do, by fixating on the two neurotransmitters in your brain known as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate. "This is why reaction time, motor functions, and speech slow down the more you drink," she continues, saying that "this mechanism puts your nervous system in a better position to sleep." Even though alcohol can put you to sleep, it won't be a very restful or long sleep. "The effects of alcohol on the brain also reduce how deeply you go into REM sleep," Moody says. Since alcohol-induced sleep isn't a true benefit, you might be better off using milk to feel sleepy, instead.

If a few glasses of red wine do you in quicker than a few cocktails, you're not alone. "Generally, dark alcohol can cause one to feel more sleepy," Moody explains, noting that "brandy, cognac, whiskey, and red wine all contain higher levels of compounds that are made during their fermentation process that cause a more profound feeling of sleepiness, compared to drinks like white wine, vodka, or tequila." A study originally published in the British Medical Journal found that red wine accounted for the highest level of tiredness among several tested alcohols. Even though vodka might not make you tired as quickly, you still don't want to mix energy drinks in your cocktails for several reasons.

Nobody wants to fall asleep too early into their big night out, so luckily, Moody recommends several steps you can take to combat the sleep-bug. "Eating foods that are high in fiber and protein can help stabilize blood sugar and keep it from crashing, which tends to happen as alcohol metabolizes," she explains. We already know what happens to your body when you drink alcohol on an empty stomach, which Moody also frowns against, but for that post-drinking pick-me-up, she recommends eating "lean proteins, eggs, fruits, and veggies" over your standard bar food. To give yourself a better chance at a restful night, Moody also says you should "definitely get some electrolytes in and non-alcoholic fluid."