Welcome to Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife Drinks 101, where in just a couple of minutes each week I help you to understand some of the mysteries behind low, no, and light alcohol drinks. I'm kicking off today with the first in a four-part mini series about functional drinks. So functional drinks are those beverages designed to serve a purpose in the body beyond basic hydration. And even though they've recently become extremely popular, these drinks are not new creations. Functional drinks have been around for centuries, but there are a lot of new iterations being produced, what feels like every week at the moment. Now, of course, the most common functional drink that often goes overlooked when we talk about this category is coffee. Caffeine has been our number one functional beverage for as long as we can remember, but it's not the only one. In your supermarket, everything from your probiotic yogurt drink to your extra fiery ginger shot to your protein and electrolyte-packed sports drinks now falls under the functional drink umbrella. For those of us who are interested in low-no and light drinks, however, the two biggest categories of functional drinks that have made their way into non-outbeths are adaptogens, which help the body, and nootropics, which support the mind. Now I'll explore both of these categories in more detail as part of this mini-series, as well as CBD-based drinks. Adaptogens and nootropics are now a big part of some lono drinks producers, and you can find them in lots of different types of drinks. For example, beers like On Beer, Lifted, and Impossible, and spirits like Three Spirit, Ascentia, and Smiling Wolf. While some functional drinks in this space are designed just to help you feel more relaxed or more focused or more energized, some brands have spent tens of thousands of pounds in researching ingredients that can act on the brain's GABA receptors in the same way as alcohol. Your GABA receptors are the bit in the brain that light up when we have alcohol, and they've designed drinks that can help you replicate that one or two drink feeling just without any of the booze. Now, while these drinks do have the potential to be hugely beneficial, it is worth noting that they don't work the same way for everybody. Depending on your physiology, your tolerance, your general health, and even how much full strength alcohol you still currently consume, you might feel the impact of these drinks more or less than someone else that you know. So it is very much a case of trial and error till you find the ones that you like that you can feel the impact from. And note that you might have to make repeated consumption of some of these drinks to get the benefits actually coming through to you. If you want to know a bit more about the functional spirits space, then check out episode 45 where I interviewed the founder of Functional Spirits brand, Smiling Wolf. They have five different non alcoholic functional spirits. I'll link to it in the show notes for you. Next time we're looking at adaptogens. Until then, cheers to a life less intoxicated.