Drinking culture vs three sips

This is a social coast. Sundowners are part of the deal, and there is nothing to apologise for in that. What we notice is the mismatch: people who train seriously through the week and then wonder why the legs are flat, the sleep is broken and the sinuses are worse every spring.

Alcohol is a reliable way to lose the second half of the night. You fall asleep faster and get less of the deep and REM sleep that does the repair. Three or four drinks on a Friday shows up in Sunday's session, not Saturday's.

It dehydrates, and on a windy coast you were probably behind already. It drops the quality of sleep. It makes reflux, disrupted breathing and 3am waking more likely. It also blunts the training response for a day or so after a heavy night.

None of that means never drink. It means stop expecting a body to do both at full volume on the same weekend.

If you are on regular medication, tell us and your doctor what you actually drink. Not the polite number. It changes advice on chronic medicines, sleep medicines, pain medicines, blood pressure treatment and a long list of others, and we have heard every version already.

Some interactions are boring and some genuinely matter. We cannot tell which one you are in if the information is edited.

Eat first. Water between rounds, not at the end. Stop earlier rather than drinking less over the same hours — the timing does more for sleep than the count does.

Do not use antihistamines or over-the-counter sleep products to sleep off a heavy night. That is a stacking problem waiting to happen; ask us instead.

If you cannot stop at the number you planned, if you are drinking to sleep, if there is shaking, sweating or anxiety in the morning, or if someone close to you has raised it — that is a doctor conversation and there is nothing shameful in it. Come in and we will point you at the right person quietly.