People who wantedto fall asleep much quicker than usual may get help by drinking a glass of wine—red wine in particular. A research conducted by people from the University of Milan showed that red wine helps induce sleepiness. Red wine, in particular, contains the chemical melatonin, which induces sleepiness and improves people’s quality of sleep. Though other studies also revealed that alcohol intake have similar effects to depressant drugs to the central nervous system, it can help people fall asleep as soon as they tucked themselves to their beds. So if you are experiencing difficulty sleeping, having a glass of red wine might do you good.
According to experts, the amount of hormone melatonin that the human body naturally produces in directly proportional to the body’s level of sun exposure. Melatonin hormones are released to the body as a way to tell it that it is time to sleep. Since red wine has melatonin, drinking it at least 1 to 1 ½ hours before sleeping can help people fall into slumber more effectively than other alcoholic beverages. Furthermore, different types of red wines also have varying levels of melatonin with those produced using Nebbiolo grapes, Sangiovese, Croatina, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Barbera grapes among others having high levels of this chemical.
Though alcohol consumed within an hour of bedtime can help people fall asleep there are studies that have shown that it can also disrupt the second half of the sleep period by awakening people from dreams and then giving them difficulty in returning to their slumber. The effect of such disruption can be daytime fatigue and sleepiness. In addition, there are also contrary opinions that pointed out that sleep quality can diminish. For instance the chemical Tyramine found in all fermented beverages, is linked to headaches and can trigger migraines.
Though red wine and other types of wine in general can help people fall asleep, experts are only recommending moderate consumption because excessive wine consumption can result to serious health problems—and you will find it hard to sleep just thinking about them.
