Protocol: minimize or eliminate alcohol before bed; if drinking, do it in the morning or early afternoon rather than the evening.
Dr. Cheri Mah recommends this timing shift particularly ahead of important events (games, presentations, travel days) where next-day performance matters. Alcohol close to bedtime is treated as a controllable input in the same category as Pre-Sleep Shower/Bath Timing and Core Body Temperature and Pre-Sleep Nutrition Protocol — a specific, actionable lever rather than a blanket "don't drink" rule. It connects to Wind-Down Routine and Parasympathetic Activation: the goal is to protect the physiological wind-down window, since alcohol disrupts sleep architecture (fragmenting the REM-dense late-night stretch, see Deep Sleep vs REM Sleep: Distinct Recovery Functions) when consumed close to sleep onset.