You'd think, right? But liquor has a LOT of sugar in it. So just when you think you are going to go to bed, the sugar high kicks in.
There is no such thing as a sugar high. For those who are curious, it actually has been well-documented that consumption of alcohol disrupts sleep (example article here) , however, much like we don't know what actually causes a hangover despite knowing that hangovers are caused by alcohol consumption, it appears we aren't quite sure why (or rather, how) alcohol consumption disrupts sleep.
Dang it. I should know better than to use convenient shorthand on Hubski. Yeah, I misrepresented the mechanism and went for the "sugar high" old wives' tale since it addressed the symptom that those of us who have imbibed too much are familiar with, of waking bolt upright in the middle of the night and feeling energized. I shall keep my observations further from hyperbole in the future! My lesson learned! :-)
I think you're the first person I've said "there is no such thing as a sugar high" to who actually a) listened and b) was like "you're right" instead of trying to defend its existence. I feel like believing in "sugar highs" is like believing you get different kinds of drunk off different kinds of alcohol. I have friends who swear it is the case. I will tell you what I have done a lot of getting drunk on a lot of different things and it always goes the same for me.
Yeah. The unassailable knowledge of my youth is crumbling around me... Sugar highs aren't real. Turkey doesn't make you sleepy. Pluto isn't a planet. The WOW Signal isn't aliens calling us. Eggs aren't high in cholesterol. And new cars don't have bench seats. I dunno what I know any more!
Yes, but just as we know SSRIs help with depression, we don't actually know that depression is caused by a serotonin imbalance in the brain. We just know giving people more happy chemicals makes them more happy. Am I wrong in my understanding of this?
There's at least one alternate theory that it might be B vitamin deficiency. Here's an article, Ben: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-do-we-get-hangovers
Liqueurs often have a lot of sugar in them (schnapps etc), but spirits, wine and beer have nearly none. Maybe you're thinking of carbs?
Consumption of ethanol lowers blood sugar though - does not increase it.
I suspect it's more a case of sobering up, and not sugar. The normal metabolism of ethanol does not appear to yield any sugars at any point (but I am not an expert). There's quite a bit of evidence that suggests there's no such thing as a sugar rush in any case; but I know from experience that very few people will ever believe that.