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Less Coffee, Better Sleep

marginalia.nu

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Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#41

Post by mostlyk »

steve1977 wrote: post #34
mostlyk wrote: post #32

I want to get better sleep but can not maintain a proper schedule due to university, 2 days a week it's waking up at 8 AM and otherwise 10 AM/11 AM. I usually have coffee at Morning and a light coffee at 5 PM, it generally helps to do more work because I feel like I want to sit and work. Otherwise I'd dopamine max or play a sport. Any tips on improving sleep? (It's simply not possible to follow a strict schedule due…

Why does it have to be 10 AM otherwise? (i.e. why can't it be 8 AM every day?) I also get up at 6 AM every day because I have to on some days.

Because I am usually sleeping at 3-5 AM and waking at 8 just becomes really tiring on those days and it is extremely hard to push through...

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#42

Post by ShinyLeftPad »

foft wrote: post #11

Cutting coffee to just the morning definitely helped me. My problem now is that if I think of anything vaguely interesting in the evening then my brain refuses to stop thinking about it. That and restless legs. Evening if my main time for hobby projects so having them lead to disrupted sleep is really annoying. Any tips?

Meditate

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#43

Post by baal80spam »

kitbrennan wrote: post #31

One of the unexpected impacts I experienced when going to zero cups per-day was that I suddenly started dreaming more often and more vividly. It was like how I remember sleep as a child, with nights full of weird and wonderful dreams, rather than only remembering one or two dreams a week as an adult. I only had this effect when going completely zero caffeine, not when I cut down to one cup a day. Unfortunately coffee…

Oh, interesting, and I can relate!

Incidentally, after being a heavy coffee drinker (5-10 cups per day for many years), I cut my coffee intake to zero. This happened around 3 years ago. At the same time, I started using earplugs every night. Pretty much since I started doing that, I dream several times a week. Previously I had dreams maybe once per month. I suspected that this dreaming was the effect of using earplugs, but now I wonder if it might be the caused by me not drinking coffee (for the curious, I replaced coffee with green tea).

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#44

Post by safety1st »

Everyone's tolerance and ideal routine is different.

For me, it's:

- One cup of coffee in the morning, optional tea while it's still light out

- Sunlight exposure within a half hour of waking

- 10-15 minutes reading some fiction

- 10 minutes of meditation

Virtually guaranteed to yield a productive day with a good sleep at the end.

In the evening, both phone and overhead lights get turned off as much as two hours before bed. Reading lamps/spot lighting only. Any screens are dimmed.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#45

Post by beloch »

"For the experiment, I started by taking a day completely off coffee."

-----------

This is an anecdote, not an experiment. What's anecdotal evidence worth?

Yes, caffeine consumption should be appropriate and appropriately timed. Most people are well aware that you should not chug a litre of coffee before going to bed. If I were patient enough to read more of this blog I wouldn't be surprised if there's a story about the author's rediscovery of fire and the wheel.

I appreciate that everyone is having good conversations about their sleep and coffee intake, but this is a really low quality blog post to start them with. I guess we love talking about coffee and sleep just that much. Maybe we should just post a link to the wiki on caffeine periodically instead? Here you go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#46

Post by nchmy »

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #39
CapsAdmin wrote: post #28

Whenever I stop drinking coffee for a few days or even months, I find that it becomes harder to wake up. I seem to sleep a lot heavier, but in the morning it's difficult to open my eyes as they feel heavy. It doesn't matter if I have 1 cup in the morning or drink coffee all day. As long as I have it in my system from the previous day, it's very easy to wake up the next day.

Could be catching up on long term sleep deficiency

Agreed. This sounds like someone whose system is very out of balance and would benefit from a coffee detox (and significantly more sleep) of at least 2 months.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#47

Post by andhuman »

What surprised me is that caffeine gets converted to other compounds that _also_ binds to the same receptors thus causing you to feel less tired. And that compound has its own half life. Now I’m just guessing, but it could be that one is more affected by one of the byproducts so to speak than the caffeine itself.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#48

Post by dan0de »

For me, load up on caffeine early is as efficient and doesn’t affect my sleep negatively. My routine consist of a cup of green tea at 8 am, cup of coffee at 9 am and a last cup of coffee at midday.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#49

Post by nchmy »

mostlyk wrote: post #41
steve1977 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it have to be 10 AM otherwise? (i.e. why can't it be 8 AM every day?) I also get up at 6 AM every day because I have to on some days.

Because I am usually sleeping at 3-5 AM and waking at 8 just becomes really tiring on those days and it is extremely hard to push through...

Is there actually a good reason to be sleeping at 3-5am? You'll probably notice significant improvement in all areas of your life if you sleep at something like 10pm EVERY day and wake up at 7am. And get rid of coffee, and exercise regularly.

Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep

#50

Post by nchmy »

intrasight wrote: post #8

I was having 3-4 per day. Wasn't feeling so great. Decided for quality over quantity. Had just one cappuccino a week Sunday morning. Did that for several years. But then started a relationship with a coffee lover. Now have 2 in the morning which is as much caffeine as my prev 4. Yet I've had no ill effects.

Yes, I'm of the opinion that we ought to treat coffee like we do alcohol - once in a while, as a treat. No sane person would say that regular alcohol is a positive thing, even if they do it themselves. It's strange that coffee is treated differently.

Your Sunday morning ritual sounds very nice, especially if it's before or after sowmthing like a hike, bike ride etc.

Ps please dont come with studies about x glasses of wine a day. It's unequivocally a poison and shouldn't be consumed as a routine.

(I had a small glass of wine last night for the first time in weeks)

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