BBC Morning Live Doctor says 'never eat or drink these after 6 if you want a good sleep'

A BBC Morning Live doctor has said people should never eat or drink these things after 6pm - if they want a good sleep. Speaking on today’s show Dr Oscar Duke said that people having festive treats after a cut-off time will be making themselves have a bad night.

The cut off for things which will impact the sleep is about 6pm, Dr Duke explained - meaning that evening tipples and some nice cheese and crackers might be off the menu. Speaking to hosts Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones, Dr Duke said: “Alcohol is first up on the list. There is good scientific evidence behind evidence behind the impact that alcohol has on our sleep.”

He explained that sleep cycles are the reason behind the issues: “In the standard sleep cycle, you have 4 different phases. So the first two are a light sleep that you go into first of all, then you go into deeper sleep and then you go into something called REM sleep, which stands for rapid eye movement sleep, and that’s when your eyes are underneath your closed eyes are moving a lot, and that’s when you do your dreaming and you lay down all of your memories.

“You go through those four cycles about every 1.5 to 2 hours. So if you’re sleeping for 8 hours, you probably go through those cycles every 4, about 4 times in your in your night’s sleep.”

He explained those cycles are what leave your refreshed and feeling good the next day. But some foods including alcoholic drinks and fatty products like cheese can disrupt that: “If you’re drinking alcohol, then you normally go into a deep sleep. We all know that alcohol makes you sleepy, puts you to sleep, but you go straight to that deep sleep phase often you don’t do the light sleep phase, you often get the less of the rapid eye movement sleep, and you