I drink a lot of coffee. A lot. I’m thinking oh, a cup before I leave the house, then two or three cups in the morning at work, then one or two after lunch. But never in the evening unless there’s a special reason.*
Now, my story about this is always that it doesn’t interfere with my ability to go to sleep. I’ve had touches of insomnia from time to time for twenty years, but I’ve never related it to coffee. Largely, this is because sometimes I can’t sleep because of an evening cup of coffee (or two), and that has a very specific feeling, which is different from my “normal” insomnia feeling.
Okay, so when I’m sick I switch to tea. Gotta maintain the caffeine, but I find coffee too dehydrating when my throat hurts. So Earl Grey with honey. I switched to tea about December 28 or so, and have been tea at home and coffee at work** since. Since I was out sick Friday it’s been just tea again.
Yesterday in the early evening I got a headache and felt very sleepy. Fell asleep from 7 to 9 pm after taking ibuprofen. It was a sudden, heavy sleep that surprised me. I attributed it to some kind of reaction to the ibu. Then I went back to bed and slept heavily. When I rolled over and woke a little around 6 am, I realized it was my first time awake all night. That’s when I realized that headache-plus-sleep equals caffeine withdrawal. Yesterday I had just one cup of tea in the morning, and one glass of Coke in the afternoon. Not. Enough.
So this says to me that the increasingly troubled sleep I’ve had over the past six months is caffeine-related, and the story I tell myself is a lie. So as of today, I’m down to three cups a day; one at home, one at work in the morning, one after lunch. That’s a sizeable decrease that should still avoid withdrawal symptoms. We’ll see how I sleep.
*Special reasons include: Have to drive late at night, have been at a party drinking and end the evening with coffee, or long-haul road trippin’.
**Tea at work doesn’t work out for me because of the honey. Bringing honey to work is messy. Drinking tea without honey sucks.
Have you tried honey straws? Still a little messy (it is honey, after all), but a lot better than a honey bear.
That’s not a bad idea.
I cut down to two cups a day many years ago. I used to be a chain-drinker–I’d fill up a cup pretty much whenever I got near a coffee pot. Then one time when I was backpacking, I realized that even though the coffee was bad (instant) I was enjoying it a lot more than I did at work; at work it was habit, but in the backcountry I was slowing down to enjoy it. So I cut back to two cups a day, and I make sure I take some time to enjoy them.
That’s a good observation. 3 cups is a good habit for me, it hits each of the spots where I really want a cup (upons waking, upon arriving at work, and after lunch when I hit the energy drop). That’s always been what my routine was supposed to be, but I allow it to creep up almost to the chain-drinking level, especially on bad days.
I read that 2-4 oz of coffee is enough to give you the caffeine boost; everything after that is unnecessary. That helps me keep my jitters down… sometimes my afternoon cup is only halfa.
We decaffeinated ourselves several years ago – drink only decaf coffee, soda, tea, etc. Recently I’ve added an occasional cup of real coffee in the morning, when I need a pick-me-up. It’s stupid how quickly I decided a needed a pick-me-up almost every morning…….
Here’s honey packets you can buy online even….
check this out….
http://www.wildernessdining.com/pps74800.html
or
http://store.drsoda.com/honey1.html (SueBee)
Coffee comes in cups? Coffee not drank in any size smaller than a pint isn’t worth drinking. I.V. yea..yea….that would be good
Coffee Freaks Rejoice!!
My dad gave me a copy of this today.
2. Drink more coffee
AARP 2007 Current Issue
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/9_Secrets_Better_Health.html
I do not drink coffee, so this is simply a PSA.