Caffeine free sleep

30 day sleep challenge day 23: cut the caffeine

Kokoon

Published in

30 day sleep challenges

3 min readFeb 26, 2016

#8anight

Caffeine, one of life’s true joys. Whether it comes in the form of a morning cup of Joe, a can of your favourite a soft drink or savoured in a sweet square of chocolate, it is the most commonly used mood-altering drug in the world with between 80 and 90% of the North American population habitually consuming it. Despite its taste bud tingling joys, afternoon perks and potential benefits to the mind and body, the amount we are consuming and the times of the day we are choosing to do so are seriously impacting on our sleep.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant and enters the body through our stomach and small intestine. It works very quickly, reaching peak level in the blood within 30 to 60 minutes. However, its half life (the time it takes your body to eliminate half of it) is between 3 and 5 hours meaning it is still in your bloodstream for between 8 and 14 hours.

Dose related studies have found increasing the amount of caffeine at or near bedtime have been associated with significant sleep disturbances. Caffeine is known to reduce the quality of sleep through reducing the amount of time one spends in deep sleep where the body repairs and restores itself and processes memories.

It is recommended we avoid caffeine within 8 hours of wanting to go to sleep. This way the majority of the caffeine has left your bloodstream and so is less likely to interfere with your sleep cycle.

Limiting caffeine doesn’t mean completely eliminating it from your daily routine. A moderate amount, consumed at the right times can be useful in stimulating alertness and energy.