Caffeine
I have cut back on my caffeine intake. I still have two a day, maybe three.
Hmm. Let me explain a bit.
Back in '95, I found myself having six to eight cans of diet coke through out the day. And then two or three diet caffeine drinks at night. I was tired all of the time. When I realized what I was doing, I quit, cold turkey. Ouch! the headaches! But I made it through and for a long time, I didn't have caffeine.
In fifteen years, I probably had caffeine on five occasions. One of them was possibly the only time I have ever been up for twenty four hours in a row. We were visiting my wife's grandmother in Dallas and decided to leave at four in the afternoon and got back at four in the morning.
About seven years ago, I went to the doctor for insomnia. I did a sleep study and missed out on sleep apnea. In fact, from my perspective, it was a waste as it didn't seem to tell me anything. Over the next five years, I tried various sleep aids. Some worked and some didn't. Or they would work for a little while and then stop. It seemed the best I could do was switch between them?
Now, my wife was still having caffeine but during this time she really became a coffee drinker, although that's a different story. Anyway, in seeing her have caffeine regularly, I wondered why not? So, i did my research and found that 200mg to 400 mg of caffeine a day is okay. So, just before I moved to my new position at my job, I decided to start having caffeine again.
And it worked! I was alert during the day and not nodding off at my desk. I tried not to have too much and started out with having water as well but that soon trailed off. That was about two years ago.
I found myself having problems sleeping again. And now, not only was it that I didn't get a lot of sleep at night, but I also wasn't getting good, restful sleep. I looked at my caffeine habits and I realized I was back to my old habit of six caffeine drinks a day, sometimes more. I tried to stop by two during the week, and even the weekend, but I was still having them. So, I decided to cut back on caffeine. And I suddenly started dreaming again. Well, not that bad, I was dreaming but I don't think it was as long. As I said, not restful sleep.
The thing is, I can still have irregular sleep periods, a lot of caffeine or not. And I think that's the part that sucks. I'm not a morning person, despite what my wife might say, but can at least get up in the morning and get going. To that end, I had a routine and that helped. But caffeine or no, my routine wasn't working anymore. So, over a weekend, I went from ~250mg of caffeine to maybe 70mg or less. And I did have a headache the first day! But now it's better.
However, now all of the things that made me go to the doctor in the first place are back. I don't fall asleep right away. I might toss and turn. Or I wake up in the middle of the night for a while before I can fall back asleep.
I still have sleeping problems and probably always will but I think it's better than it was. That's something. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, I could have a lot worse problems! This can still be annoying but I'm dealing with it as best as I can.
Hmm. Let me explain a bit.
Back in '95, I found myself having six to eight cans of diet coke through out the day. And then two or three diet caffeine drinks at night. I was tired all of the time. When I realized what I was doing, I quit, cold turkey. Ouch! the headaches! But I made it through and for a long time, I didn't have caffeine.
In fifteen years, I probably had caffeine on five occasions. One of them was possibly the only time I have ever been up for twenty four hours in a row. We were visiting my wife's grandmother in Dallas and decided to leave at four in the afternoon and got back at four in the morning.
About seven years ago, I went to the doctor for insomnia. I did a sleep study and missed out on sleep apnea. In fact, from my perspective, it was a waste as it didn't seem to tell me anything. Over the next five years, I tried various sleep aids. Some worked and some didn't. Or they would work for a little while and then stop. It seemed the best I could do was switch between them?
Now, my wife was still having caffeine but during this time she really became a coffee drinker, although that's a different story. Anyway, in seeing her have caffeine regularly, I wondered why not? So, i did my research and found that 200mg to 400 mg of caffeine a day is okay. So, just before I moved to my new position at my job, I decided to start having caffeine again.
And it worked! I was alert during the day and not nodding off at my desk. I tried not to have too much and started out with having water as well but that soon trailed off. That was about two years ago.
I found myself having problems sleeping again. And now, not only was it that I didn't get a lot of sleep at night, but I also wasn't getting good, restful sleep. I looked at my caffeine habits and I realized I was back to my old habit of six caffeine drinks a day, sometimes more. I tried to stop by two during the week, and even the weekend, but I was still having them. So, I decided to cut back on caffeine. And I suddenly started dreaming again. Well, not that bad, I was dreaming but I don't think it was as long. As I said, not restful sleep.
The thing is, I can still have irregular sleep periods, a lot of caffeine or not. And I think that's the part that sucks. I'm not a morning person, despite what my wife might say, but can at least get up in the morning and get going. To that end, I had a routine and that helped. But caffeine or no, my routine wasn't working anymore. So, over a weekend, I went from ~250mg of caffeine to maybe 70mg or less. And I did have a headache the first day! But now it's better.
However, now all of the things that made me go to the doctor in the first place are back. I don't fall asleep right away. I might toss and turn. Or I wake up in the middle of the night for a while before I can fall back asleep.
I still have sleeping problems and probably always will but I think it's better than it was. That's something. I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, I could have a lot worse problems! This can still be annoying but I'm dealing with it as best as I can.