Drinking coffee before bed?

[Mai72]

Can anyone here drink coffee before going to bed? My father will sometimes drink 2 cups of coffee before he turns in for the night. I don't know how he does it. If I drank a few cups of coffee I would be up till dawn. If I consume half a Monster (8oz) I'm up all night!

 

[bradly1101]

I think some people are more tolerant of caffeine, maybe it takes building up a resistance?

 

[Markbnj]

Yeah, I drink it pretty much all day, right up until I hit the hay. Doesn't keep me awake. I think I need it just to maintain my normal sluggishness. If you took it away I would probably just go sloth and move a foot or two a day.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Caffeine has never really affected me one way or the other. It isn't a built-up tolerance, it just has never done a darn thing.

Sucks when I'm trying to stay awake and it won't help.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can't drink anything before bed, otherwise I end up having to get up to go pee several times. One bad habit I have is drinking pop in the evening, I need to cut that habit for that reason.

 

[Pardus]

Have a cup of Cappuccino almost every night before bed, helps me sleep better. Can't stand most American coffee, Starbucks-McDonalds and so on all tastes like crap. Usually brew the good stuff at home, but when i'm out and about, most coffee tastes like sewage to me.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

sleep quality goes down

 

[destrekor]

Yeah, I drink it pretty much all day, right up until I hit the hay. Doesn't keep me awake. I think I need it just to maintain my normal sluggishness. If you took it away I would probably just go sloth and move a foot or two a day.

Pretty much this for me.

I've tried to maintain at least some level that does in fact require me to minimize, if not absolutely stop, all caffeine consumption after the dinner time frame. Of course, the amount does matter. A small or weak cup of coffee right after dinner, while extremely rare for me, probably wouldn't be enough. A strong large cup, like a dark roast such as from Starbucks? That'd do it.


I need to dial it back to reduce my tolerance, but every time I even halve my intake, you might as well just give up on me that day, as I'm not accomplishing anything remotely positive or constructive that day.

 

[destrekor]

sleep quality goes down

And that's one reason why I do try and prevent caffeine intake after a certain point in the day, even if I could fall asleep at a reasonable hour.

Too much caffeine still left in the system will produce a shallower sleep with a lower quality full sleep cycle. I can't remember the details off the top of my head, but I think the roughly 90 minute cycle is roughly the same but one sleep period is lengthened while REM is shortened, or something like that. In effect, it's just a lower quality night of sleep, making it far more likely to be groggy and miserable in the morning (for me - but, that's usually my morning one way or the other. Could be me, could be the daily caffeine intake, regardless of time. It does build up. I do seriously need to cut back to find out).

 

[dbk]

if you can pound 2 cups of coffee right before bed and aren't staying up.. something's wrong.. RIGHT?!?!

Someone smart chime in here.. all we got are anedoctal ish

 

[mizzou]

Right before bed? No.

I will often have a cup though sometime after dinner if I plan on having a late night.

 

[destrekor]

if you can pound 2 cups of coffee right before bed and aren't staying up.. something's wrong.. RIGHT?!?!

Someone smart chime in here.. all we got are anedoctal ish

If it's literally right before bed - it shouldn't have an impact on the ability to fall asleep up to 30 minutes later. It would definitely impact sleep quality... typically.


Thing is - some people literally have such a drastically reduced caffeine sensitivity that it really doesn't do anything for them. I seriously want to study the hell out of these people to figure out why, because it doesn't make sense based on the mechanisms of the underlying chemical and similar chemicals.


Now, if it's a matter of tolerance, and someone can drink that much without impact... something is sort of wrong. I'd say it's "right", in that it could be expected for some individuals - but... it's definitely wrong that they have that high of tolerance, in that it CANNOT be free of harmful effects taking in that much.

I expect my usual 600-800mg-ish caffeine intake a day is doing some long-term no-good for me, and I know I couldn't achieve a good night of sleep, or even the ability to fall asleep, taking a fair bit of caffeine like that an hour or two before bed.
Well I know I could, but it would require other chemicals interacting. Copious amounts of alcohol can help, even better would be diphenhydramine (benedryl, unisom) to really help knock you out.
Not necessarily ingredients for quality sleep, but allowing sleep to be induced is an easier task to manage than guaranteeing a good night of sleep.

 

[KlokWyze]

anything with caffeine, if I'm not drinking (alcohol) will keep me up all night being fidgity and shit. I'll likely just end up playing a game for a couple hours until ready to hit the hay.... probably at like 4 or 5 in the morning.

 

[rudeguy]

Coffee helps me sleep.

I'm ADD as shit and can't take narcotics, so I self medicate with good coffee. Its a rough life but I survive.

 

[mizzou]

Coffee helps me sleep.

I'm ADD as shit and can't take narcotics, so I self medicate with good coffee. Its a rough life but I survive.

wouldn't a stimulant be worse for ADD? I don't know shit about it. I know when my wife has coffee she's like a bunny rabbit who is on 100x regular time.

 

[AMDBOY]

Yup everyday for me. In the morning just to get going. Not during the day, (don't want a heart attack) then again when I get home and on till bedtime.
If I don't drink coffee in P.M., I wake up with a nasty dull headache, lasting all day, till I drink more. That's my vice, but I love it! And I know I'm not alone!!
:biggrin:

 

[Williz]

Can't drink coffee, makes me go a bit loopy. I'm fine with energy drinks though, I'll usually down one before I play Sports. Usually just have a glass of water before bed otherwise I wake up with a horrific dry throat.

 

[DaTT]

Not affected by caffeine as much as others. I can drink it before bed and still fall asleep in under a minute.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Yup. I can drink one cup and I'm out like a light.

Anything more, I get ansty and can't sleep.

 

[Demo24]

wouldn't a stimulant be worse for ADD? I don't know shit about it. I know when my wife has coffee she's like a bunny rabbit who is on 100x regular time.

I've heard that it has the opposite effect on ADD people, so instead of making them wired it calms them down.

 

[Mai72]

A lot of caffeine does three things to me:

1. Makes me very nervous around people.
2. I get the sh*ts!
3. Makes me very horny.

 

[Markbnj]

I've heard that it has the opposite effect on ADD people, so instead of making them wired it calms them down.

This is true. The most popular treatment for ADD in the U.S. right now is adderal, which is essentially amphetamines.

 

[rudeguy]

This is true. The most popular treatment for ADD in the U.S. right now is adderal, which is essentially amphetamines.

which is why I self medicate.

Want to know how messed up I am?

I can drink coffee all day and night with no issues. But I can't drink pop with caffeine in it or my blood sugar drops like a rock and then I will get no sleep that night.

 

[nageov3t]

back when I used to drink a *lot* of coffee, sure... I could down a cup and fall asleep 5 minutes later.

now that I only really drink like one cup/day, I'm actually affected by the caffeine.

 

[TXHokie]

I drink coffee in the morning to help me wake up. If I drink it in the evening sometime after dessert, it won't stop me from going to sleep.