Espresso / sleep

[quink]

I've never found sleep a problem after an espresso. I have in the past fallen asleap on my sofa less than 20 mins after having one. I did find Raf's 25 hour thing interesting, has anyone gone that long willingly? and perhaps once your up your body gets used to it.

[Gouezeri]

I did find Raf's 25 hour thing interesting, has anyone gone that long willingly? and perhaps once your up your body gets used to it.

Yup. First time was at university: my mates said I was addicted, I said I wasn't, so they took my cafetiere for a week and said I couldn't have any cola, chocolate or other stimulants (don't drink tea) either. Oh, except for alcohol (I was a fresher after all!). One week later, no effect.... unfortunately they dropped and broke my cafetiere on returning itl, so it was more like 12 days before I actually had a cup of coffee.
These days, I sometimes go without if I'm travelling/hiking/motorbiking/freediving for various reasons (mainly weight/convenience) and I still don't see a difference (though when it comes to the freediving, I defer to those who know more and limit my intake).
D

[Sammy]

Thanks for the interesting reactions! I am very much interested in Raf's theory and wanna learn more about it. My sleeping experience after a lot of caffeine is like MK's. Not asleep, not awake, but definitely not well. Perhaps there is some vitamin, mineral or other miracle supplement that speeds up the process decribed by Raf.

That would at least allow me to enjoy a good espresso later in the day (wow, after dinner, when I am brewing coffee for the others around the table...)

[pault]

I remember hearing somewhere that you can get "caffeine fatigue" where too much caffeine makes you tired instead of awake ... don't know if it's true or not

also, there is a lot more caffeine in cafetiere coffee - basically the more water that's involved the more caffeine is produced plus the lighter the bean roast the more caffeine is retained ...

so *relatively*, dark roasted espresso has little espresso - so everyone - try having a big mug of Cafetiere coffee just before you go to bed!! If it doesn't affect you - I'm impressed!!!!!

best,

Paul.

[Gouezeri]

don't want to turn this into a bragging competition, but when I'm in france with the "outlaws" I only ever drink FP (even bring my own with me) as otherwise it could be week old filter/drip (don't ask, you really don't want to know). I often have a large mug around midnight, the only thing that might make a difference is the coffee isn't as fresh as I would like as I can't roast quite so easily when in france. If there is a difference in caffeine between espresso and FP, I really can't feel it

[JonathanM]

JonathanM's her indoors again - shh don't tell him I'm posting.
pault please be impressed I can drink two big mugs of FP before bed (along with all the others I've had throughout the day)- still no trouble sleeping.
Off for a brew before I get found on here.

[pault]

JonathanM's her indoors again - shh don't tell him I'm posting.
pault please be impressed I can drink two big mugs of FP before bed (along with all the others I've had throughout the day)- still no trouble sleeping.
Off for a brew before I get found on here.

okay, okay I am officially a caffeine wimp ...

at least I have a tough dog ...

[JonathanM]

Sure, she can sleep and cope when there is a plentiful supply of coffee. The problem occurs when the supply dries up - , very !

[quink]

The problem occurs when the supply dries up - , very !

Dont we all get that way? I thought that was the reason we were all here. Like a caffeine voyage of the damned.

[kingseven]

Caffeine is so hopelessly misunderstood even still by the scientific community. I have a very nice book on caffeine - in terms of explanation of how it works it debunks two of the previously assumed theories and goes on with another (which has probably been debunked since the books publication).

The theory as I understand it: caffeine blocks receptor sites for a hormone that I THINK is called adenosine. Adenosine is a hormone the body releases to calm itself down, to slow metabolic rate, to slow heart rate etc etc. Caffeine stops the body calming itself down. What they don't understand (if this theory is true) is how the body builds up a tolerance.

Fascinating - I am sure you agree.....?

[Gouezeri]

Actually.... some of the stuff I read on caffeine basically explained that coffee is so complex that those studies which deal with caffeine as a constituent alone are simplyfying matters enormously. Consequently, that we should not be looking at caffeine in isolation but at coffee as a whole.
D

[stevenzaat]

Yes, I would like to support guoezeri without saying I am a scientific expert. I know they did recently a scientific test with a group drinking 'normal'coffee and a group drinking 'decaf' coffee and they didn't tell the people what they drunk. The sleeping problems which actually exist in both groups, where the same for both groups. They are now looking for the other substance which effect our sleep. By the way I need a lot of coffee before it effects my sleep, but feel very sleepy if I skip my morning coffee in the morning rush to get on time at work.

Best regards,

Steven

[Terje]

I have been told, though never tried myself that the "french trick" when it comes to drinking coffee and sleeping well afterwards is to drink it very late, just before you go to bed because then caffeine won't hit before you're sound asleep.

My french qolleuague, an older guy who has drunk coffee all his life, can confirm this. He used to have a big cup before he went to bed all through his childhood. He thinks it's a matter of tolerance though.

[Joey]

What they don't understand (if this theory is true) is how the body builds up a tolerance

I have rescently heard from a customer who is into the food-engineering business (I think that's the right translation...) - the body has "resistors" for dealing with caffeine. The more caffeine you drink, the more resistors the body produces (despite with other drugs... )
So you kind of get immune to caffeine after a while.
If you drink one liter of coffee daily, you still can sleep. If you drink that liter for the first time, well, you will find some difficulties....

I will try to translate something I found about coffee here:

Because it has so many ingredients (Caffein, Vitamin B, Minerals, Acids, Phenole und Antioxidantien) it has a lot of different influences on the body.

Coffee has deffinitely a good influence on the human metabolism, and is therefore a good starter in the morning.

The brain:
It enhances the vigilance, makes the thoughts float easier, suppresses fatigue

The heart:
it enhances the coronary vessels and makes the heart able to beat stronger and quicker

The lungs:
At the lung-bronchi it boosts the relaxation and extension of the air contending lung-tissue, like the asthma drug theophyllin (spasmolyse)

The kidneys:
On the kidneys coffee acts diuretic, specially when you drink water with it.
(Which you should, cause the kidneys need more fluid for working on the caffeine then the amount of coffee itself that's brought into the system)

The gall:
Rescently they found out that the hormon "Cholezystokinin" is discharged, which drains the gall-bladder and boosts the fatburning process. (I have heard that drinking only black coffee with water in the morning before jogging helps burn a lot of fat!!)
..and it says that it prevents from gall stones!

AND - but I guess you all know - that a pain in the stomach doesn't come from the caffeine what most people (ignoramus) think, but from the acids that stay in the beans when they are not roasted properly - too short!
(Most mass-roasterys have huge machines where the beans are roasted hot and quick - 3-5 minutes. Very unhealthy!!!! Burnt outside, like raw inside
)

And I have heard that a cup of caffeine doesn't effect the body much longer then about 2 hours. So if a customer tells me "uh, if I drink coffee at 3pm I can't sleep the whole night" I smile and think "yeah, and if you drink a glass of wine you are drunk 3 days, right?"

Hope these facts are useful (and right )

greetings
Joey

[Kaarina]

After 6 pm it seriously hampers my ability fall asleep. In the morning though, I dont seem to have an upper limit at all ...