Day 13 Sleep Tip

Take a moment to reflect on what sources of stimulants do you intake? Coffee, tea, energy drinks, in your medication, chocolate, sodas, beverages or even natural forms such as ginseng. What is your cut off time before bed?

The most common stimulant is caffeine. The vast majority of adults consume caffeine daily, with many relying on caffeine’s energizing effects to enhance their mood and optimize their performance. Caffeine is found naturally in many plants, including coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao pods, and kola nuts. Synthetic caffeine is also sometimes added to medications and energy drinks.

While caffeine is a common tool to promote wakefulness in the morning and to ward off sleepiness during the day, it comes with side effects, including jitteriness, headaches, and nervousness. It can also interfere with sleep, especially if consumed too late in the day.

Caffeine consumption can make you fall asleep later, sleep less hours overall, and make your sleep feel less satisfying. It can also reduce the amount of deep, slow-wave sleep you get, which is a critical stage of sleep for feeling refreshed the next day.

Caffeine affects the brain by blocking adenosine receptors. Adenosine is a sleep-promoting chemical that is produced in the brain during our waking hours. Normally, adenosine builds up in the brain the longer you are awake. The more it builds up, the sleepier you become. When caffeine blocks this process, you remain alert and vigilant. But this may also be why caffeine consumption can disrupt sleep.

Caffeine is known to boost cognitive functions, such as memory and attention, especially in sleep-deprived people. However, it cannot ward off all of the effects of long-term sleep loss. Even though caffeine is no substitute for a restful, restorative night of sleep. And, especially if consumed too late in the day, the alertness-promoting effects of caffeine can linger into the evening and interfere with sleep.

Caffeine has a half-life of anywhere between 2 and 12 hours. A drug’s half-life refers to the amount of time it takes for your body to metabolize and eliminate half the dose you consumed. The range is so wide because many individual factors affect how quickly you metabolize caffeine and how soon its effects wear off.

How Many Hours Before Bedtime Should You Have Caffeine?

The generally recommended cut-off time for caffeine use is a minimum of eight hours before bedtime.

If you are struggling with sleep, start keeping track of the time of day you consume caffeine and how you sleep that night. You may find that you sleep better with a longer period of caffeine abstinence before bed, such as 10 hours or more.

Let’s Talk Energy Drinks. In one study with students in Norway found that with daily consumption of energy drinks led to:

Less sleep. Those who drank energy drinks daily were more than twice as likely to say they slept less than 6 hours per night. Even more women (87%) who drank energy drinks daily said they slept less than 6 hours per night. Both men and women who said they drank energy drinks daily slept about 30 minutes less nightly, compared to those who said they drank the drinks occasionally or didn't drink them at all.

Insomnia. Half of women (51%) who consumed energy drinks daily said they had insomnia, compared to 33% of women who seldom or never consumed the drinks reporting insomnia. For men, 37% of energy drink consumers said they had insomnia, compared to 22% of non-energy drink consumers.

More sleep problems. Daily energy drink consumers also were more likely to wake up after falling asleep and to take longer to fall asleep, the researchers said.

Even those who had 1 to 3 energy drinks per month were at risk for more sleep problems, the researchers said.

So avoid stimulants well before bedtime for optimal sleep.

Studies:

Consumption of Energy Drinks and Their Effects on Sleep Quality among Students at the Copperbelt University School of Medicine in ZambiaBackground. Good sleep quality is cardinal to good health, and research has shown that it plays a fundamental role in immunity, learning, metabolism, and other biological functions. Energy drink consumption is a popular practice among college ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(https://www.fhi.no/en/cristin-projects/ongoing/the-shot-study)

www.sleepfoundation.org

Wow; did not know this

Such interesting information. Thank you for all of your research. I drink coffee only first thing in the morning, never throughout the day, and never consume Energy drinks. The coffee I drink is from Four Sigmatic and is a mushroom coffee with Lions Maine for cognitive support, and Chaga for immunity. It has no mushroom flavor. It is Organic. And therefore the healthiest source of coffee I have found. I add collagen to it, as well as a Tablespoon of MCT oil, no cream, no sweeteners. My collagen is a chocolate collagen and I add 5 drops of DoTerra Peppermint. It makes a yummy Peppermint Mocha!!

This sounds yummy! Never thought to add peppermint to my coffee

I typically have caffeine beverage (ice tea) when we eat out. Will need to cut that especially if it is at supper time.

I dont do caffeine any more but use to dont like it any more coffee's teas or sodas.

Thankfully I don't drink coffee, tea, energy drinks and rarely drink pop. When I do it's one without caffeine. I almost wish I did. Then it would explain my poor sleep quality and I could cut those out of my diet.

I do drink a form of natural caffeine for other medical purposes. I try to finish up before 12:00 pm. The days that I do finish earlier I notice I sleep better.

So thankful for all the information that has been gathered and shared with us.

I stop drinking teas or soda at dinner time. From dinner time till sleep I drink water.

I am not a fan of caffeinated drinks but I hadn’t thought about chocolate having caffeine. That’s something I need to take into consideration.

Nights when I don't get enough sleep - the next day I rely on Zip Fizz to give me a boost and help me get through the day. They have what they advertise as "natural caffeine" in them - But maybe it's not any different than caffeine found in sodas and coffee ?

I only drink tea. I have learned that black tea is good for the mornings due to the caffeine in black tea and green tea is good for nighttime. Not a big fan of green tea but I did get a bleand for nighttime that I do love. May need to pull it out this week and use it.