Since quitting caffeine 10 months ago I've found it difficult to fall asleep as I seem to have a lot more energy in the evenings. Also, decaf is probably impossible to get in a Swedish workplace, people give you a concerned stare whenever you ask for it.
Less Coffee, Better Sleep
51–60 of 79 posts
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#52better coffee, better everything.
but definitly and with ferocious certainty, not more coffee.
more coffee is held in reserve for a power run, backed by protien loading, extra hydration and whatever else can help cushion the load, and is followed by some lazy down time to recover, hopefully squinting bleary eyed at a cheque and new number in my bank account and the sleep of the rightiously tired.
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#53Interesting coincidence - I’ve been drinking only one cup of coffee in the morning for the past month or so. Used to drink one in the morning and one immediately after lunch. Couldn’t really tell the difference in sleep quality and to be fair I’m waking up more frequently in the past 2 weeks, but I guess that has to do more with heat than anything else. Listened to many podcasts trying to learn more about this and th…
Well I think the key point is that caffeine has a half life of 6 or 7 hours in adults. So 4 coffees before 10am is worse than one coffee at 2pm. That's how I look at it anyway. Regardless, I limit myself to 2 cups before 8am. Now I notice even a late afternoon green tea wrecking my sleep. Can't believe I spent all those years drinking 5 cups well into the afternoon...
Yeah, 5 years ago I was drinking coffee at 10PM and I was sleeping without an issue. I’m pretty sure that would be a very big problem right now
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#54Cutting 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?
> Cutting coffee to just the morning definitely helped me.
I drink half a mug (~200 ml) at ~2PM. I drink black tea rest of the day. Used to drink 2L/day at some point (it was a controlled period which required that).
> My problem now is that if I think of anything vaguely interesting in the evening then my brain refuses to stop thinking about it.
Use a notebook to take notes or ooze it out from your brain and try to learn meditation maybe? I do both, and both helps a lot to me.
Also, if doing exercise is not a very good option, try yoga. Looks serene but makes your body work.
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#55I’ve always struggled with sleep. A few things that helped me (in order of importance) - go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Getting up is more important than going to bed. - no phone in bed, and limit stimulating activities (intense video games, programming, planning the vacation etc) to 90 minutes before bed. I read during that time but TV, cleaning, music, whatever works. - a bad nights sleep will hap…
A 30-60min walk around the block before bed does wonders too
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#56Cutting 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?
> Cutting coffee to just the morning definitely helped me. I drink half a mug (~200 ml) at ~2PM. I drink black tea rest of the day. Used to drink 2L/day at some point (it was a controlled period which required that). > My problem now is that if I think of anything vaguely interesting in the evening then my brain refuses to stop thinking about it. Use a notebook to take notes or ooze it out from your brain and try to…
> I drink black tea rest of the day
Black tea contains a considerable amount of caffeine too. Aside from that, I know of two people whose years-long mysterious health effects disappeared (one with stomach troubles and the other with bad muscle cramps) after stopping their all-day >1L black tea consumption. The tannins in tea bind to iron, so it might cause iron deficiency anemia (although studies yield conflicting results), which especially woman are already predisposed to, and for which iron deficiency tests are often calibrated towards men .
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#57Recently cut out cannabis, cbd, coffee and all alcohol and its shocking how different your sleep becomes. There needs to be more research done on stimulant free brains and my theory of how better our brains are at "taking the trash out" at night when not pumped full of quick/easy dopamine.
> Recently cut out cannabis
I've found if I cease cannabis use by 5pm each day that it doesn't impact my sleep (or ability to dream and remember them).
I also need to be done exercising (strength or cardio) by late morning to not have an impact on sleep.
Finally, supplementing magnesium with dinner has probably made the biggest impact on increasing restful sleep, in agreement with this recent discussion:
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#58Interesting coincidence - I’ve been drinking only one cup of coffee in the morning for the past month or so. Used to drink one in the morning and one immediately after lunch. Couldn’t really tell the difference in sleep quality and to be fair I’m waking up more frequently in the past 2 weeks, but I guess that has to do more with heat than anything else. Listened to many podcasts trying to learn more about this and th…
Well I think the key point is that caffeine has a half life of 6 or 7 hours in adults. So 4 coffees before 10am is worse than one coffee at 2pm. That's how I look at it anyway. Regardless, I limit myself to 2 cups before 8am. Now I notice even a late afternoon green tea wrecking my sleep. Can't believe I spent all those years drinking 5 cups well into the afternoon...
Sleep is considerably more fragile with age, regardless of what you do.
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cutting coffee to just the morning definitely helped me. I drink half a mug (~200 ml) at ~2PM. I drink black tea rest of the day. Used to drink 2L/day at some point (it was a controlled period which required that). > My problem now is that if I think of anything vaguely interesting in the evening then my brain refuses to stop thinking about it. Use a notebook to take notes or ooze it out from your brain and try to…
> I drink black tea rest of the day Black tea contains a considerable amount of caffeine too. Aside from that, I know of two people whose years-long mysterious health effects disappeared (one with stomach troubles and the other with bad muscle cramps) after stopping their all-day >1L black tea consumption. The tannins in tea bind to iron, so it might cause iron deficiency anemia (although studies yield conflicting re…
Let me clarify some of the points you have rightfully brought up.
As a disclosure, I hail from Turkey. We consume most tea per capita by a large margin, so we might have adapted to this. I don't know. I'm drinking tea regularly since I'm six, and my family is drinking considerable amount every day, too.
Let's start with iron deficiency which is the most widely touted side-effect. Regardless of the amount of the tea, I have never had iron deficiency or low-iron case in my life. On the contrary, I'm a type of person who wears t-shirt all year long, and generally pretty warm all-over. I mean, the room has AC on, and I also add a small desk fan to keep my cool right now. I'm not overweight either. Nobody from my immediate or larger family has low-iron case either (regardless of gender), and we all drink lots of tea, all day long. So there might be some genetics here.
Mayo clinic suggests that tea has "half the caffeine" of tea (I brew both) [0], however their effects on my body is wildly different. If I overshoot my daily coffee consumption, my heart rate increases and I feel the usual "tension" from high caffeine consumption. However, drinking ~2L of brewed tea doesn't do anything to me. Does not affect my sleep, anxiety levels or anything. It helps me concentrate, sure, but without all the bad side effects of coffee over-consumption. There's a paper about it, but it's sponsored by Unilever IIRC, so I won't share that.
Badly brewed, overly dark or stale black tea brews are not kind to the stomach. That's true. There's a kind of finesse to do it properly. From dosage to waiting times. Even if you do everything right, some people's body doesn't like tea, and that's alright.
Cramps? Now I'm hearing it for the first time, but I don't discount or dismiss it. It's just I never heard it from anyone around.
So while these effects might be true, these are not universal. I was sipping tea by 11PM yesterday and I was dead asleep at midnight, for example. If I have drank another half mug of coffee, I'd be watching sunrise probably.
Addenda: Human body can silently signal what it wants and what it doesn't. Sometimes I automatically stop drinking tea/coffee and switch to water for example. Listening to the body is essential to preserve its balance. Forcing it never ends well. Body is wiser than the mind.
[0]: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-h...
Re: Less Coffee, Better Sleep
#60Whenever 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.
Do you track exactly how much sleep you actually get? Like with a device, not with a journal. That sounds like you may be aren't getting enough sleep, consistently.