My Sleepy Life

Do You Have Decaf?

2005-11-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

So it's two in the morning, you've been tossing and turning for hours and you just can't get to sleep. You know coffee keeps you up at night but you always order decaf anyway. Whatever could it be?

While most people know from first hand experience whether coffee drinking in the evening affects them or not, that extra cup of Starbuck's may not be the only culprit.

The reason coffee keeps you up at night is because your body is reacting to the caffeine which acts as a stimulant. For the average person, it takes about six hours for caffeine to leave their system. Let's take a look at where else caffeine may be lurking.

Popular sodas like Coke and Pepsi have caffeine in them. But wait you protest. I always order diet. Well, they actually have more. Some light color sodas like Mountain Dew even contain more caffeine than Coke or Pepsi.

On average a cup of coffee has just over 100mg of caffeine. A soda has between 35 and 50 milligrams. And, if you're a fan of power drinks, know that Red Bull and similar products have about 80 milligrams of caffeine.

Other sleep depriving culprits to look out for include tea, chocolate, and some medicines.

Oh! About that decaf coffee. I don't know about you but sometimes at two in the morning I'm staring at the ceiling wondering how that restaurant gets their decaf coffees to taste so good.

Sleep well.

Maddie

Power Nap

2005-11-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

Let’s face it. A power nap is simply a new millenium way of saying siesta. Siestas were part of everyday life in many Mediteranean countries as a way to endure the intense mid-day heat. Until very recently these countries still maintained the tradition of breaking up the workday into two distinct segments.

In North America, and much of Northern Europe a typical work day would start at eight or nine and end anywhere between four and six. In some warmer climate countries they would work from eight to twelve then go home for several hours and come back around four or five to put in another four hours. By the way, this also means double the rush hours!

This practice is rapidly falling out of favour as modern life, technology, and the need for a competitive edge forces everyone to work longer and harder.

Biologically, we are programmed to have some downtime around midday. Why fight evolution? Studies have shown that taking even a short twenty minute break can rejuvinate you and improve your performance for the latter part of the day.

There’s a simple way to calculate your optimum “Power Nap” time. Take the time you fell asleep and the time you woke up and find the mid point between them. Add twelve hours to that time and that’s “Power Nap Time”.

Alas, as hard as people have tried to get this movement off the ground in today’s corporate culture there is very little evidence that it’s getting any traction.
Indulge and improve performance. Get caught doing it and brace for ridicule.

Maddie

The Magic of Sleep

2005-11-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

With technology playing an ever important role in our lives, it has become increasingly difficult to relax, unwind, and get the required downtime necessary to rejuvinate and function effectively.

I've started this site to share my experience with sleep and sleep deprivation and how best to overcome the crippling effects of insomnia. At this point I know as much as I care to about insomnia.

I am relieved to write that I currently am getting as much sleep as I feel I need and have severely limited the stress and anxiety that comes from sleep deprivation.

In my future posts I'll tell you how I did it. Sleep well and for goodness sakes, relax already would you.

Maddie