Harrison on the floor Ford with Ridley Scott and a couple of Fosters – Getty Images
I can’t tell you how much I love this picture of Harrison Ford and Director Ridley Scott, working out stuff before filming Blade Runner.
As a big Harrison Ford nerd (I have a podcast about him) and a beer nerd, this picture checks all my boxes.
Seeing Harrison laying on the floor is so very… Harrison. And it’s so very beer too. Having a couple beers and being creative and relaxed is what lo-fi beer drinking is all about and I love it.
I wonder what scene or character trait the two were working out. Maybe they were just talking about life. It’s magical what a couple of Foster oilcans can do.
Local drunk sleeps while his “Weekend Vibes” Coronado Brewing beer waters the plants
I hate it when beer makes me tired. I like it when beer keeps me up AND gives me a buzz! You know, makes me feel good and stuff?
Instead, many times, it makes me tired. Why?! I want to be able to day-drink and not have to take a damn nap after my first beer. Is this really that much to ask?
So the question today is…
Why Does Beer Make You Tired!?
Reasons you find yourself asleep on the floor or on the cement somewhere (oh is that just me?) after one beer:
You did not sleep that well the night before. This is almost always the case with me and probably you too? Unless you’re single and 22, who the hell has time to get enough sleep? These Sienfeld episodes at 12:30 at night when you have to get up at six ain’t gonna watch themselves now, are they!?
You have not drank enough water. We have all figured out by now that beer dehidrates you – even though the dang thing is mostly water! WHY OH WHY God did you do this!? You let us figure out this delicious beverage that makes us feel things and then you have it dehydrate us?! Booooooo!
Hops. The hops in the beer made you tired. There are studies out there (I will not bore you with the details) that prove hops relax you (basically) and when you couple that with alcohol that is generally already relaxing you along with the hops, that is a tough combination to battle through. But battle we must.
In a related twist, according to a Harvard study, you actually get a “boost” from drinking a few hours after your first drink – even if the your beer made you sleepy.
Several hours after that nightcap, the alcohol raises the body’s level of epinephrine, a stress hormone that increases the heart rate and generally stimulates the body, which can result in nighttime awakenings.
Harvard study on alchol and fatigue
I cannot say I have noticed this epinephrine boost before. Not saying it isn’t a thing, I just haven’t stopped to notice it. Now I have another fun element to my beer drinking: waiting for the boost!
Next time I drink I will start a three hour timer after I crack open my first beer and WAIT FOR THAT RUSH BABY!
There is also the kind of sleep we get after beers. This dude is a whisky guy but seems to know things and talks about the good and bad about drinking before sleep:
So What Can We Do About This Beer Sleeping?
I am just trying to keep things simple and stop feeling drowsy after a beer. So what the hell are we going to do about it?
Obviously now, we know we gotta start by sleeping as much as we can the night before. Then we need to have been drinking water before we crack something open. And have water next to you as we drink. I also up the anty by having a Coke Zero around for some caffeine intake.
This is a lot of fluid going into the body, I know. It’s good fluid though and the only way I know to stay awake during a mellow, lo-fi drinking session.
Good luck to you and if you have any tips on staying fresh while still having some nice beverages, please reply to this post below in the comment section. Cheers!
Side Note: If you liked this sleepy drinky post, you might like my newsletter Drinking & Thinking and also maybe leaving something in the tip jar so I can go get some more beer to make me sleepy! 🍻😴
My first thought was: Keep drinking it. But there are better thoughts on the subject.
Here is the best of Beer Twitter’s advice:
This is a great place to start. We talk about it on the Perfect Pour; reset your palate.
I occasionally buy a 12-pack of an old favorite, Sierra Nevada Pale, and that usually makes things all freakin’ right.
Can’t go wrong supporting good people making good things.
That one falls under the resetting your palate umbrella and I’m for it.
Okie dokie:
Get your beers cold and watch some videos may be all ya need.
I will NOT endorse the wine tactic but I do endorse taking a break from beer if things are getting that bad. I probably should do this but simply don’t want to.
Oh HELL yes! 👏 Finding some hidden gem of a brewery in a new city. That will pump ya back up.
Yes yes yes 🧀. Which reminds me, I really want to put some charcuterie boards together themed for beer pairing and have a party and shit. We should ALL do this.
Nope nope nope. We done here. Chris, we are trying to fall BACK in love with beer, not block it from our feed.
How To Fall In Love With Beer Again [a recap]:
Drink some of your old favorite beers. Spend some time doing it.
Reset your palate. Drink stuff you never would normally drink. Weird styles. Even drink BAD beer.
Enjoy the good people around beer. Don’t overthink what you are drinking.
Watch other people enjoying beer. Brew some beer on your own.
Take a break. Simply don’t drink a damn thing for a while.
Focus on having the right beer with your food and go down a charcuterie cutting board hole.
If you have your own thoughts or advice on this, please leave it in the comments. And if you like pickles and olives on your charcuterie board, I think I’m falling in love with you.
Now let’s look at this board and think about the beers we want to have with it:
I have been experimenting the past couple weekends with these kind of posts. A mix of live-blog, drinking forecasting and buzzed journaling. Even though it hasn’t taken off yet, I kinda like doing them so I’ll keep it up for now.
We give so much of our writing and energy to posting on other peoples sites (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Untappd bla bla bla…), sometimes it’s nice to keep that energy on your own blog, ya know?
I will be updating this blog post throughout the day (when time allows) so just check back in occasionally by hitting refresh on your browser when you have the post pulled up. Comments are open to you as well if you ever feel the need to ad something.
TODAY’S DRINKING FORECAST
High chance of buzz rolling in by afternoon as no events outside of the house are planned. No need to drive anywhere once errands are done and no serious family needs predicted at this time.
Just enough beer budget today to supply a full Saturday of drinking.
Events to watch: Hurricane Ida approach Gulf states. Oakland A’s game vs. Yanks. Fresno State Football season opening game. New episode of Ted Lasso. SNL repeat at 11:30 PM.
