Drinking to get a good night’s sleep is a bad idea

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Updated: October 27, 2011 5:50PM

Q. What’s the trick to good sleep? Will a glass of sangria before bed help?

A. Wine and sleep sound like a great combination, right? Not so much. For most of us, it backfires. While alcohol is sedating at first, later in the night it usually does a 180 and wakes you up, in extreme cases, 20 times!

How to drop off faster than a new puppy? Here’s our 20-second version:

† Reserve your bedroom for sleep and sex (no computers, no TV).

† Plan when you need to go to bed to get seven to eight hours of rest.

† Divide the 30 minutes beforehand into three parts: 10 minutes for next-day things (making a list, packing a lunch), so you don’t lie awake thinking about them; 10 minutes for washing, flossing, brushing; 10 minutes for meditating — it works way better than wine.

Q. I’m 56, 5-foot-2 and weigh 185 pounds. I’ve lost 31 pounds and want to lose 39 more. I went from no exercise to walking on a treadmill daily and lifting weights. But I just had a blood test and my bad LDL cholesterol went up! From 143 to 170. My HDL’s the same (35). I take fish oil, flaxseed oil, plant sterols and pantothenic acid. I’m taking sustained-release niacin
(250 mg). Am I doing the right things?

Otherwise, we’re wowed. Almost everything we tell people to do for LDL and HDL, you’re doing. Losing weight? Check. Walking daily? Check. Adding strength work? Check. Taking omega-3s, plant sterols, pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5)? Check, check, and check. Trying niacin? Check — but we’d tweak that. Up your dose to 500 mg and take it with aspirin before bed to decrease the risk of hot flashes, a common side effect. If your LDL and HDL don’t improve on your next test, boost the niacin to 1,000 and get re-tested in three months.

Q. My kids play soccer and football. They’re fit, healthy and love their sports, but I worry about head injuries.

A. First, if your child yelps in pain, good! He’s conscious. (If not, get medical attention STAT.) If your kid seems OK, keep a close watch for 48 hours. It can take that long for trouble to develop. Look for: headaches, dizziness, eyes that aren’t in sync, nausea, confusion, unusual sleepiness. Wake your child a couple times during the night to check for symptoms.If you’re unsure, it’s never wrong to have a head injury checked out.

Take this preventive step, too: Get your kids new double-sided gel mouthguards, made to protect against concussions.

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