5 ms·

I only found out recently (well into my adult life) that I am hyper-sensitive to caffeine. One cup of coffee in the morning will keep me up till 3 am at night.

I only found out recently (well into my adult life) that I am hyper-sensitive to caffeine. One cup of coffee in the morning will keep me up till 3 am at night. This tricked me into thinking that I'm an extreme night owl, and it kept me from ever getting really good sleep. Now, I've quit caffeinated beverages entirely, and I get tired around 11:30 pm every night, and I sleep fantastically well. I wake up naturally around 9:30 every morning and feel great. All that is to say ... consider caffeine and other "drugs". You might be surprised how much they're affecting you.

mmwako 15y ago
Thanks Charlie! How did you find out that you were hyper-sensitive? In my case, I don't drink colas, but I love that hot coffee in the morning...
- onemoreact 15y ago
  Ideally, you should keep a sleep journal for 30 days before you try to change anything about your sleep habits. As to the actual experiment don't drink any tea/coffee/colas for 30 days and see how it effects your sleep patterns. PS: And I do mean zero for the full 30 days if you have any caffeine you have to start over.
  - bryanlarsen 15y ago
    Caffeine has really nasty withdrawal symptoms for most people. I highly recommend slowly cutting out caffeine rather than going cold turkey.
  - shrub 15y ago
    This could be a solution for me. Drinking tea is part of the culture of my family, so I started drinking it at a very young age (as soon as I could hold a cup?) with 3/4 milk and 1/4 tea. As I got older, the amount of tea increased until there was no milk left. These days, whoever I visit, it seems I can always count on being offered a cup of tea. When I started having all sorts of issues sleeping at a young age, it just didn't occur to me or anyone that it could be the copious amounts of tea. Doctors ran tests on my blood numerous times and didn't find anything. They asked me all sorts of questions (even if I was pregnant at the tender age of 15, which shocked young innocent me), but caffeine never came up. Strangely, sending me to bed earlier resulted in tossing and turning even longer into the wee hours of the morning. Sleeping pills just resulted in feeling strangely dazed, but still not sleeping. These days I have stopped drinking tea/caffeine after a certain hour in hopes of getting more sleep, but I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning and I still have troubles getting to sleep (takes a couple of hours no matter hour exhausted I feel). Maybe it's time to cut out the caffeine completely.
- mortenjorck 15y ago
  For me, it was gradual. I had had random bouts of insomnia for awhile, and realized those correlated with days I had caffeine after 4 PM or so. So I cut back to noon, which improved it, then cut back to the morning, which was even better, and then just cut out caffeine entirely. I've never slept better.
roqetman 15y ago
Similar here, but I've found that as long as I don't drink caffeine after 3pm, I sleep well. Any later than that and I wake at 3am or so. Made such a difference when I discovered this... I lost a serious amount of grumpiness.
- RyanMcGreal 15y ago
  For me it's around noon, but then again I go to bed at 9pm and get up at 4:30.
- mmwako 15y ago
  Nice to see I'm not alone :) it's impressive to see how different are our sleeping habits. I have to hack myself one of these days.
- downx3 15y ago
  I must be seriously broken. I can even enjoy a cup of coffee at the bedside and still sleep. Not that I do that often. Falling asleep for me is easy. I pretty much always wake up about four hours later. Then sometimes I remain wide awake for another few hours. After which I'm ready for sleep again. The second bout is pretty glorious. This does mean however, that I need to pretty much put 11 hours aside each night, if I want to play to my bodily demands. My other half rather annoyingly insists everyone should wake when they rise. Which just isn't good for my mental health - or my programming for that matter!
  - adavies42 15y ago
    i'm basically immune to caffeine, afaict. i frequently come home late, drink a diet coke or whatever, and head straight to bed. i've gone back and forth between drinking a six pack of diet mountain dew a day and nothing and never noticed a difference. i can slam two bottles of Bawls (160mg) or eat 3 Fooshes (http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27 http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27, >300mg total) and still take (and want) a nap. if i gave myself anything close the amount of sleep i appear to be capable of taking, i'd never be up to get anything done....
dan00 15y ago
For me it's TV. Especially bad for me is watching before going to bed. TV keeps me awake, stimulates me. After watching I've problems falling asleep, and the sleep itself isn't recreative. I don't feel really awake after such a night.

mmwako 15y ago

Thanks Charlie! How did you find out that you were hyper-sensitive? In my case, I don't drink colas, but I love that hot coffee in the morning...

onemoreact 15y ago
Ideally, you should keep a sleep journal for 30 days before you try to change anything about your sleep habits. As to the actual experiment don't drink any tea/coffee/colas for 30 days and see how it effects your sleep patterns. PS: And I do mean zero for the full 30 days if you have any caffeine you have to start over.
- bryanlarsen 15y ago
  Caffeine has really nasty withdrawal symptoms for most people. I highly recommend slowly cutting out caffeine rather than going cold turkey.
- shrub 15y ago
  This could be a solution for me. Drinking tea is part of the culture of my family, so I started drinking it at a very young age (as soon as I could hold a cup?) with 3/4 milk and 1/4 tea. As I got older, the amount of tea increased until there was no milk left. These days, whoever I visit, it seems I can always count on being offered a cup of tea. When I started having all sorts of issues sleeping at a young age, it just didn't occur to me or anyone that it could be the copious amounts of tea. Doctors ran tests on my blood numerous times and didn't find anything. They asked me all sorts of questions (even if I was pregnant at the tender age of 15, which shocked young innocent me), but caffeine never came up. Strangely, sending me to bed earlier resulted in tossing and turning even longer into the wee hours of the morning. Sleeping pills just resulted in feeling strangely dazed, but still not sleeping. These days I have stopped drinking tea/caffeine after a certain hour in hopes of getting more sleep, but I still drink a cup of coffee in the morning and I still have troubles getting to sleep (takes a couple of hours no matter hour exhausted I feel). Maybe it's time to cut out the caffeine completely.
mortenjorck 15y ago
For me, it was gradual. I had had random bouts of insomnia for awhile, and realized those correlated with days I had caffeine after 4 PM or so. So I cut back to noon, which improved it, then cut back to the morning, which was even better, and then just cut out caffeine entirely. I've never slept better.

roqetman 15y ago

Similar here, but I've found that as long as I don't drink caffeine after 3pm, I sleep well. Any later than that and I wake at 3am or so. Made such a difference when I discovered this... I lost a serious amount of grumpiness.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago
For me it's around noon, but then again I go to bed at 9pm and get up at 4:30.
mmwako 15y ago
Nice to see I'm not alone :) it's impressive to see how different are our sleeping habits. I have to hack myself one of these days.
downx3 15y ago
I must be seriously broken. I can even enjoy a cup of coffee at the bedside and still sleep. Not that I do that often. Falling asleep for me is easy. I pretty much always wake up about four hours later. Then sometimes I remain wide awake for another few hours. After which I'm ready for sleep again. The second bout is pretty glorious. This does mean however, that I need to pretty much put 11 hours aside each night, if I want to play to my bodily demands. My other half rather annoyingly insists everyone should wake when they rise. Which just isn't good for my mental health - or my programming for that matter!
- adavies42 15y ago
  i'm basically immune to caffeine, afaict. i frequently come home late, drink a diet coke or whatever, and head straight to bed. i've gone back and forth between drinking a six pack of diet mountain dew a day and nothing and never noticed a difference. i can slam two bottles of Bawls (160mg) or eat 3 Fooshes (http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27 http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/6e27, >300mg total) and still take (and want) a nap. if i gave myself anything close the amount of sleep i appear to be capable of taking, i'd never be up to get anything done....

dan00 15y ago

For me it's TV. Especially bad for me is watching before going to bed. TV keeps me awake, stimulates me. After watching I've problems falling asleep, and the sleep itself isn't recreative. I don't feel really awake after such a night.