Sleep scientist reveals habit she wishes women would skip

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Put your phone down, don't drink caffeine too close to bedtime, make sure your room is dark enough - just a few of the tips that come up time and time again when we start looking into how to sleep better. While experts say these are all important, one sleep scientist recommends a different lifestyle habit change.

It's easy to reach for a glass of wine to wind down for the evening. A 'nightcap' has its name for a reason. The link between alcohol and the search for quicker sleep is strong. However, it has a profound and often underestimated negative effect on the body's ability to rest and get enough core sleep.

Hannah Shore is a sleep scientist with qualifications from the University of Oxford’s Sleep Medicine Programme, working with Mattress Online. She explains we need a healthy mix of deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep to feel properly refreshed. "Alcohol disrupts this balance, meaning you can sleep for the ‘right’ number of hours and still wake up feeling exhausted,” she says.

“Alcohol initially acts as a sedative, pushing the body into a deeper sleep earlier in the night. While this can make it feel easier to fall asleep, it’s misleading. That deep sleep is followed by lighter, more fragmented sleep, with frequent awakenings as the night goes on.”

If you couple this with changes in body temperature, thirst and the need to pee, then it’s no wonder we can feel hungover and exhausted, even after just one or two drinks. “Many people believe alcohol helps them sleep, but over time, it actually worsens sleep quality. This can create a cycle where people feel they ‘need’ alcohol to fall asleep, increasing consumption and leading to ongoing sleep problems, including insomnia,’ says Hannah.

This is a problem for all who drink alcohol. However, several studies show that women feel the effects more than men, waking up more during the night and having less REM sleep. In part, it could be down to having fewer enzymes that metabolise alcohol (alcohol dehydrogenase), a higher body fat percentage, and a lower proportion of water in the body.

Tips for drinking less and sleeping better

The recommended maximum weekly units for women in England is 14, and the NHS says this should be spread over three days or more. Ideally, we should be drinking less, but drinking more than this will put you at risk of both short and long-term health problems.

Here are some of Hannah’s tips for drinking less and building better sleep habits:

Cut down on alcohol by trying to have a few alcohol-free days per week, or only drinking at weekends.
Alternate your alcoholic drinks with alcohol alternatives to help you drink less.
Keep regular sleep and wake times, even at weekends.
Get morning daylight exposure to support natural circadian rhythms. In winter, having a sunrise alarm clock can help with this.
Create a wind-down routine that avoids alcohol and screens before bed.
Maintain a cool, dark, and quiet bedroom environment.
Avoid alcohol and caffeine late at night.

Kat Storr has been a digital journalist for over 15 years after starting her career at Sky News, where she covered everything from world events to royal babies and celebrity deaths. After going freelance eight years ago, she now focuses on women's health and fitness content, writing across a range of UK publications.

From perimenopause to the latest fitness trends, Kat loves researching and writing about it all. She's happy to give any fitness challenge a go and speaks to experts about wellbeing issues affecting people every day.

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