Stop Drinking Water After This Time To Get Better Sleep
If you're like most people, you probably keep a glass of water on the nightstand just in case you start to feel a little parched before drifting off to sleep. While getting in a few extra ounces of water in the evening isn't a bad thing, you may want to avoid doing so right before bedtime.
According to MindBodyGreen, drinking water at bedtime means you're more likely to wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. This is not only annoying but also bad for your health. When your sleep is disrupted, that means your quality of rest isn't optimal, which could weaken your immune system and interfere with your gut health. Even if you're still able to clock in a full 8 hours in bed, that period of disruption interrupts your sleep cycle and can also leave you feeling a little groggy in the morning.
The secret is to hydrate during the day
We know that drinking too much water before bed can disrupt sleep, but not getting enough water also correlates to poor sleep habits. A 2019 observational study in Sleep found that adults who don't get at least six hours of sleep weren't properly hydrated. Per MindBodyGreen, Shelby Harris, psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine specialist, recommends drinking a big glass of water first thing in the morning, then paying attention to your water intake all day long. The mistake a lot of people make is not drinking enough water throughout the day. Near bedtime, they feel parched and chug a few glasses of H2O, running the risk of having to pee after falling asleep.
Some people decide to cut off drinking water at a specific hour, but the exact time could vary from one person to the next. Urologist Vannita Simma-Chiang, via MindBodyGreen, says to stop drinking water three to four hours before you go to bed.