Why Your Evening Wine Hurts Your Sleep

Alan Cruz|October 20, 2025

You pour the glass around 8 PM. Maybe it's red. Maybe it's white. Either way, it's your ritual. The signal that work is over, the day is done, and it's time to unwind.

Twenty minutes later, you feel it. The warmth. The loosening. Your shoulders drop. Your jaw unclenches. You sink into the couch and scroll through your phone, finally relaxed.

Then you crawl into bed, and within minutes, you're out.

Mission accomplished, right?

Not quite.

The 3 AM Wake-Up Call You Didn't Ask For

It happens around 3 AM. Sometimes 2:47. Sometimes 3:16. But it happens.

Your eyes snap open. Your heart's beating a little faster than it should. Your mind, which was supposed to be resting, is suddenly wide awake and racing.

You check the clock. You sigh. You roll over. You wait.

And wait.

Sometimes you fall back asleep. Often, you don't.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. And that glass of wine you thought was helping? It's actually the problem.

Why Alcohol Sabotages Sleep (Even Just One Glass)

Here's what most people don't know: alcohol might help you fall asleep faster, but it destroys the quality of your sleep.

When you drink before bed, alcohol acts as a sedative. Your brain shuts down quickly. You feel drowsy. You drift off. So far, so good.

But here's the catch: as your body metabolizes that alcohol a few hours later, your system goes into rebound mode. Your heart rate increases. Your stress hormone cortisol spikes. Your brain snaps out of deep sleep and into lighter, more fragmented stages.

This is why you wake up at 3 AM. Your body is literally processing the alcohol and pulling you out of the restorative sleep you need most.

Even worse, alcohol suppresses REM sleep. That's the stage where your brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and essentially "cleans house" for the next day. Without enough REM, you wake up foggy, irritable, and emotionally frayed, even if you technically got seven or eight hours in bed.

One glass of wine with dinner might feel harmless. But if you're doing it most nights? You're training your body to expect poor sleep.

The Hidden Cost of "Just One Drink"

You might think, "It's just one glass. I'm not getting drunk."

Fair. But your sleep doesn't care about your intentions.

Even moderate alcohol consumption before bed can:

Reduce time spent in deep sleep by up to 39%
Increase the number of times you wake during the night
Cause next-day fatigue, even if you don't remember waking up
Disrupt your body's natural circadian rhythm over time

And here's the part that really stings: the more consistently you drink before bed, the more your body adapts. You start needing that glass just to feel sleepy. It becomes a crutch. A habit. A nightly negotiation with your nervous system.

Before you know it, you're not winding down naturally anymore. You're chemically forcing it.

VIIA Customer Stories

"I sleep deeper and longer. Very comfortable."
— Franklin A., Verified Buyer

That's from someone who switched from their nightly routine to a plant-based alternative. No rebound cortisol spike. No 3 AM jolt. Just deeper, uninterrupted sleep.

Another customer put it even more bluntly:

"It's cheaper than ADHD meds, and better than alcohol."
— Anthony M., Verified Buyer

Translation: the ritual stayed. The relaxation stayed. The sleep improved. But the disruption? Gone.

A Gentler Way to Unwind

What if you could keep the ritual without wrecking your sleep?

What if you could actually relax your nervous system instead of just sedating it?

That's where plant-based alternatives come in. Unlike alcohol, which forces your brain offline and then yanks it back awake, THC gummies and CBN gummies work with your body's natural sleep systems.

They don't hijack your brain chemistry. They support it.

Dreams Sleep Gummies (5mg or 10mg THC)

This is the wine replacement. Dreams Sleep Gummies

These Delta 9 gummies are specifically formulated as THC gummies for sleep. Each gummy contains a carefully balanced blend of 5mg or 10mg THC, 15mg CBN (three times the industry average), and 90mg CBD, plus L-Theanine and Passionflower to calm the mind and ease tension.

Unlike alcohol, which disrupts your sleep architecture, these CBN gummies help you:

Fall asleep faster without the crash
Stay asleep through the night (no 3 AM wake-ups)
Wake up clear-headed and rested

Think of it as the nightcap that actually works. You take one about an hour before bed. You wind down naturally. You drift off. And you stay asleep.

No rebound. No cortisol spike. No foggy mornings.

Just sleep. Real, restorative sleep.

Cloud 9 Relief Gummies (5mg THC)

This one's for the "unwind after work" moment.

If your evening glass of wine is more about shaking off the day than falling asleep, Cloud 9 is your move. Each gummy contains 5mg THC, 50mg CBD, plus 5-HTP and L-Theanine to support mood and relaxation.

It's the equivalent of that first sip that makes your shoulders drop. Except instead of messing with your sleep later, it actually sets you up for a better night.

Northern Lights or King Louis Pre-Rolls

For those who love the ritual of smoking or unwinding with something in hand, our pre-rolls deliver the deeply relaxing effects of indica strains without the sleep disruption of alcohol.