Can Drinking Milk Before Bed Help You Sleep Better?

Sleep deprivation is a widespread issue, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that 1 in 3 adults in the United States regularly fall short of the recommended amount of sleep.

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, adults aged 18-60 should aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night to maintain optimal health and wellness.

While many adults are aware they need more sleep, modern distractions like technology and busy lifestyles make it difficult to unwind and rest. Sleep issues stem from various factors, including stress, poor sleep hygiene, and dietary habits.

One natural remedy that has gained attention is drinking milk before bed, a practice thought to improve sleep quality.

This guide explores the potential benefits of drinking milk before bed, examines the science behind its effects, and offers tips to help you incorporate this soothing ritual into your nighttime routine.

Stress - if you are stressed about work, money, your relationship, etc. it can keep you up at night. Stress induces a flight-or-fight response in your body that elevates your heart rate and blood pressure, which in turn keeps your mind active. It’s why you’ll often have racing thoughts before you go to bed.
Medication - certain types of medication can prevent you from sleeping so make sure to read label and contact your doctor if you’re experiencing severe side effects
Distraction - thanks to the rise of technology, there are now more distractions than ever keeping people from falling asleep. Besides the TV, you now have your smartphone where you can easily access your social media, games, and work emails.

The positive effects of drinking milk before bed

Lack of sleep has obvious short-term effects like decreased brain function, fatigue, and decreased coordination. However, there are very long-term side effects of sleep deprivation including:

Reduced immune function
Increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia
Obesity
Cardiovascular disease

Luckily, there are some things you can do to fall asleep including drinking milk before bed. That’s right. It’s not just an old wive’s tale. Milk can actually help you get some shuteye. Of course, if you are lactose intolerant, drinking milk might actually make it harder for you to go to sleep, so you might need some other natural remedies. So how well does it work? Let’s find out.

May Help Some People Fall Asleep Faster

No one knows exactly when the tradition of drinking milk before bed started, but it has been used as a remedy for insomnia for centuries. There are some studies that find consuming dairy products like milk or cheese can help some humans get a better night’s sleep, although the reason still remains unclear. With that said some experts have theorized that some nutrients in milk could impact people’s ability to fall asleep.

Milk Can Help Make You Fall Asleep Faster

Milk contains two nutrients known to induce sleep:

L-tryptophan - this nutrient is a precursor to serotonin and melatonin in your brain. If you consume enough, your brain will create more of the two hormones a few hours later. Both of these help relax your body, making it much easier to fall asleep.
Melatonin - you can find this sleep hormone in over-the-counter supplements meant to improve sleep. Melatonin regulates your sleep cycle and your brain automatically produces it about an hour or two before you feel tired. Once the hormone builds in your brain, you will fall asleep.

Although milk does contain both of these nutrients, the levels are too low in one glass of milk to actually impact your sleep. It’s more likely that the combination of these nutrients along with the psychological effects of drinking a warm beverage before bed is what helps relax the body. The brain also likes routine, so if you always drink a glass of milk before bed, you are sending signals to your brain that it is time for sleep. If you’ve been practicing this routine since childhood, chances are the association between milk and sleep will benefit you as an adult. With that said, even if you didn’t grow up with this tradition, you can still add it to your life. Just make sure you do this every night as the routine is the most important aspect.

Promote Healthy Sleep Cycles

In addition to helping you fall asleep, tryptophan and melatonin can also promote healthier sleep cycles. Interestingly, there are some studies that suggest milk collected at night contains higher amounts of both tryptophan and melatonin. When the ‘night milk’ was administered to elderly patients, it improved their sleep quality noticeably when compared to milk collected during the day.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to know whether the milk you drink was collected during the day or night. Chances are high, though, that the glass of milk you drink before bed probably won’t have enough tryptophan or melatonin to actually treat a disordered sleeping pattern. Still, that doesn’t mean you should stop drinking milk before bed. After all, there’s also no studies suggesting it negatively affects your sleep cycle either. Plus, milk is packed with protein and drinking a glass can help you feel full all night long, leading to better sleep.

Psychological Effects

Many sleep experts believe that what really makes milk a sleep aid is the psychological effect it has on creating a calming bedtime ritual. If you have been drinking milk before bed consistently since childhood, your brain and body use this action as a signal that bedtime is close at hand. There could also be a placebo effect occurring as your brain believes that drinking milk will help you fall asleep.

Even if you don’t think that the nutrients in milk can help you sleep better on your new organic mattress, adding it consistently at bedtime can help improve your overall sleep hygiene. Of course, that’s not all you need to do. You should go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day to cement your circadian rhythm. A healthy diet combined with exercise and soothing rituals can all help improve your sleep hygiene. Drinking warm milk can be part of that soothing process. Not only does it help warm up the body, the ritual of heating and drinking the milk can also take you away from electronics thereby reducing your exposure to unnecessary blue light. If you prepare the milk and drink it at the same time every day, you will start associating the process with bed. Of course, it does take time. As with any habit, you probably won’t see any immediate changes.

If you cannot drink milk, there are plenty of other options that can help relax your body such as drinking tea, taking a warm bath, listening to some soothing music, and so on. Essentially, you want to find ways to reduce your heart rate and quiet your mind while also taking away any potential distractions.

Warm vs. Cold Milk For Sleep

Does it matter? There’s no evidence that suggests warm milk is better than cold milk. In fact, there aren’t any studies that compare the effectiveness of milk as a sleep aid based on its temperature. With that said, drinking a warm beverage - whether milk, tea, or something else - at night is a common practice for reducing stress and encouraging relaxation.

Warm Milk vs Cold Milk: Which is better?

In fact, drinking warm beverages can help fight anxiety and depression. A lack of water in the body can increase stress levels, which can lead to depression. This negatively affects the sleep cycle making it difficult to sleep, which then increases anxiety. A warm beverage can help maintain the water level of the body and keep your mood in check. It also helps remove toxins from your body by way of sweat. When you drink a warm beverage, your body temperature rises causing you to sweat. This improves blood circulation and gets rid of toxins in the body.

Drinking a cold beverage has its advantages as well. A cold glass of milk can help promote sleep as it can stabilize your hormone levels and allows your joints and muscles to balance and relax. It also can promote sleep as it will help cool your body down after taking a warm shower. By cooling down your core temperature, you are signaling to your body that it’s time for bed.

Drawbacks of Drinking Milk Before Bed

Not everyone will get a good night’s sleep after drinking a glass of milk. In fact, if you are part of the 30-50 million people who are lactose intolerant, drinking milk before bed can only lead to digestive issues such as gas, bloating, cramps, etc. Those who suffer from glucose intolerance will also struggle with sleep if they drink milk before bed. Since lactose is a sugar, a large amount of it right before bed can lead to a blood sugar crash. This can keep you up at night with your brain sending your body signals to eat.

So maybe you don’t suffer from either issues. There are still drawbacks to drinking milk before bed. If you are on a diet, drinking an extra glass of milk every day adds an extra 120 calories, and that’s only for an 8 oz glass. Your metabolism also slows down as you sleep so those extra calories will be harder to burn. Even if you’re not worried about weight, milk can also interfere with your liver and its ability to detox your body.

Milk Can Potentially Help You Sleep Better

Poor sleep is a public health issue around the world. Thanks to increasing distractions and the need to be on call at work 24/7, people are getting less and less sleep. Add onto that additional stress from world events and you have a recipe for a sleep deprived population.

While milk can potentially help you sleep better, there’s no guarantee it will work. However, if you don’t suffer from lactose or glucose intolerance, it’s worth trying it out to see if there’s an effect on your sleep cycle. Make sure to stick with it for at least a month as you won’t see results immediately. If you find that milk doesn’t help, pursue other options such as some tea or maybe taking some melatonin supplements.

Karen A Mulvey is a personal social blogger and mom with 14 years of experience in the every day world of motherhood and sustainable product research. Karen is on a mission to help everyday families select sustainable, non-toxic organic products, stop stressing about uncertainties on sustainable home goods and apparel, and start living the life they’ve always wanted.

Follow Karen at @karenAmulveycs | Karen A Mulvey