5 ms·

How does he know the sleep effects were due to the alcohol and not the caffeine? I rarely consume either, but when I do, caffeine is by far the most disruptive

How does he know the sleep effects were due to the alcohol and not the caffeine? I rarely consume either, but when I do, caffeine is by far the most disruptive to my sleep and will derail my routine for days.

leowoo91 7y ago
I second that, I used to have sleep issues and it got fixed after moving my coffee habits to morning.
MaximumYComb 7y ago
My experience is anecdotal but I drink both. I've found that once you're a heavy caffeine drinker that you hardly notice it's effects on things like sleep. Alcohol is different. 8 drinks before bed and I wake up tired, despite my usual bedtime. I drink way more caffeine than I do alcohol, yet alcohol is the only substance that has ever seemed disruptive.
- qalmakka 7y ago
  Yes, after a while your body gets addicted to caffeine and adjusts to the amount you are ingesting, so you need to increase how much you're taking in order to keep feeling the high you expect from coffee. If you suddenly stopped assuming caffeine, you'll start suffering from withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and drowsiness; this is because your brain adenosine receptors are accustomed to a certain amount of caffeine (which is itself an adenosine antagonist). Your brain receptors recalibrate themselves after a while if you stop drinking coffee/tea, or if reduce your intake of caffeine to a smaller amount.
  - newnewpdro 7y ago
    Not sure why you're getting downvoted. The withdrawal symptoms for caffeine are brutal in my experience. It's really surprising every time I dabble with having an espresso a few times a week when I'm in a cafe-frequenting mode. Even just one week of having a double espresso every other day will leave me with 1-2 days of terrible headaches and nausea beginning 1-2 days after completely stopping. No other drug I've experienced so quickly establishes such miserable withdrawal conditions. And I've been around the block in this neighborhood.
- jeffdavis 7y ago
  8 drinks is quite a lot. That much alcohol affects a lot of things.
  - copperx 7y ago
    > That much alcohol affects a lot of things. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's been a long time since I read a sentence that conveyed no meaning whatsoever. I found it amusing.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  I think with 8 drinks I would either die or have a weeklong hangover :)
  - MaximumYComb 7y ago
    8 drinks are about 6 beers of 375mL volume here. In my country (Australia) beers are typically sold single, by 6 or by 24. So having 6 beers isn't uncommon. It's something you may do at a weekend BBQ during summer.
carlmr 7y ago
Yeah, I can't have caffeine after 2pm or I will have terrible sleep. Alcohol also causes bad sleep, but only in larger quantities.
edzx 7y ago
I'm sure it depends on people to people. Everybody has different tolerance levels for both alcohol and caffeine. For me, mostly it doesn't disrupt my sleep even if I drink an hour before to go. But, the thing is decreasing anxiety level if I'm surrounded by a crowd. My focus can be easily fucked up then. While alcohol feels more comfortable at the same time.
illyism 7y ago
It is. Try sleeping with a smartring, smartwatch or phone app that measures your deep sleep. The difference is shocking. The sleep quality for me is about half of what it is when I'm sleeping sober.
wojcikstefan 7y ago
I'm sure different people have different sensitivity to caffeine and certainly the author's sleep benefited from both reducing caffeine and removing alcohol entirely. But if you read e.g. the studies mentioned in "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker, you'll see that alcohol's effects are much graver.

leowoo91 7y ago

I second that, I used to have sleep issues and it got fixed after moving my coffee habits to morning.

MaximumYComb 7y ago

My experience is anecdotal but I drink both. I've found that once you're a heavy caffeine drinker that you hardly notice it's effects on things like sleep. Alcohol is different. 8 drinks before bed and I wake up tired, despite my usual bedtime. I drink way more caffeine than I do alcohol, yet alcohol is the only substance that has ever seemed disruptive.

qalmakka 7y ago
Yes, after a while your body gets addicted to caffeine and adjusts to the amount you are ingesting, so you need to increase how much you're taking in order to keep feeling the high you expect from coffee. If you suddenly stopped assuming caffeine, you'll start suffering from withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and drowsiness; this is because your brain adenosine receptors are accustomed to a certain amount of caffeine (which is itself an adenosine antagonist). Your brain receptors recalibrate themselves after a while if you stop drinking coffee/tea, or if reduce your intake of caffeine to a smaller amount.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  Not sure why you're getting downvoted. The withdrawal symptoms for caffeine are brutal in my experience. It's really surprising every time I dabble with having an espresso a few times a week when I'm in a cafe-frequenting mode. Even just one week of having a double espresso every other day will leave me with 1-2 days of terrible headaches and nausea beginning 1-2 days after completely stopping. No other drug I've experienced so quickly establishes such miserable withdrawal conditions. And I've been around the block in this neighborhood.
jeffdavis 7y ago
8 drinks is quite a lot. That much alcohol affects a lot of things.
- copperx 7y ago
  > That much alcohol affects a lot of things. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's been a long time since I read a sentence that conveyed no meaning whatsoever. I found it amusing.
Ididntdothis 7y ago
I think with 8 drinks I would either die or have a weeklong hangover :)
- MaximumYComb 7y ago
  8 drinks are about 6 beers of 375mL volume here. In my country (Australia) beers are typically sold single, by 6 or by 24. So having 6 beers isn't uncommon. It's something you may do at a weekend BBQ during summer.

carlmr 7y ago

Yeah, I can't have caffeine after 2pm or I will have terrible sleep. Alcohol also causes bad sleep, but only in larger quantities.

edzx 7y ago

I'm sure it depends on people to people. Everybody has different tolerance levels for both alcohol and caffeine. For me, mostly it doesn't disrupt my sleep even if I drink an hour before to go. But, the thing is decreasing anxiety level if I'm surrounded by a crowd. My focus can be easily fucked up then. While alcohol feels more comfortable at the same time.

illyism 7y ago

It is. Try sleeping with a smartring, smartwatch or phone app that measures your deep sleep. The difference is shocking. The sleep quality for me is about half of what it is when I'm sleeping sober.

wojcikstefan 7y ago

I'm sure different people have different sensitivity to caffeine and certainly the author's sleep benefited from both reducing caffeine and removing alcohol entirely. But if you read e.g. the studies mentioned in "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker, you'll see that alcohol's effects are much graver.