Warm Milk

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

In the recent (5/24/01) Staff Report “Why does warm milk make you sleepy but cold milk doesn’t?” SDSTAFF Ken responds: “In addition there is anecdotal evidence that the warm milk reminds us of the time when we were infants, hence “sleep like a baby.””

Isnt this just the type of psuedo-evidentiary statement we rely on Cecil to de-bunk in his columns?

The column is otherwise spot-on, discussing the scientific fact that there is a physical response to warm liquids and noting that any warm non-caffeinated beverage has the same result.

2

Welcome to the SDMB. A link to the Staff Report is appreciated. Why does warm milk make you sleepy but cold milk doesn’t?

3

How much can, say, 500 g of warm, say 80C, milk raise the temperature of a, say 55 kg, body?

(3755000+50080)/55500=37.39.

So a BIG glass of HOT milk can raise the temperature of small person 0.39 C.

4

Meanwhile, I’m wondering about the tryptophan comment, myself. Hasn’t Cecil debunked tryptophan’s role in sleepiness? As I recall, the conclusion is that you get sleepy on Thanksgiving just because of eating so much, and if you had beef, say, or somethig vegetarian instead, you’d get the same effect.

5

This is, unfortunately, one of the weaker staff reports I’ve ever read. SDSTAFF Ken doesn’t really support his conclusions.

Normally, warm milk is going to be close to body temp, so it isn’t going to alter your temp at all. As jeremybb points out, the body is a rather good heat sink, and a cup of milk just isn’t much compared to your body weight.

Ken mentions tryptophan, but doesn’t relate it to the question at all. Even if tryptophan is the reason it makes you sleepy, why would you get more of it by heating up the milk?

If you are going to bring in anecdotal evidence, you should at least give us some reason to listen to it.

Lastly, there’s a distracting typo in the last sentence.

I think the third through seventh words should be “beverages we enjoy tend”, right?

6

>Most other beverage we enjoy warm tends to have caffeine, which inhibits sleep (coffee, hot chocolate/cocoa, leaf tea)…

For the depressed or upset, caffeine may improve mood. If mood is stopping one from getting to sleep, moderate caffeine can help. This was info provided by our local HMO.

7

Thanks for catching the grammar goof, Saltine, which will shortly be repaired.

8

Saltire asks:

What I heard way back when is that the cold milk acts as a jar to your system that counteracts the effect of the tryptophan. However, drinking the milk warm prevents that jarring, and thus the tryptophan works. This from my high school biology teacher.