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0 pointscrazygringo2y ago0 comments

But have you ever tried stopping caffeine and then comparing your sleep?

What if you think you sleep well now, but it turns out you can sleep so much better?

I'm not saying you will (I'm neither pro- nor anti-caffeine). But I am saying that unless you've tried it, you have no way of knowing. And I know lots of people who have improved their sleep in various ways, who thought they were sleeping normally/fine, and then discovered they actually hadn't been -- they just didn't know any better.

(And even if millions of people do something as a matter of culture, that doesn't mean it's good for your health. There are tons of cultural practices that are bad for health, or bad for a subset of the population.)

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4 comments · 4 top-level

genocidicbunny2y ago

For lots of people, especially those with ADHD, a small dose of caffeine will help them fall asleep faster and sleep better. Instead of their brains bouncing around trying to fall asleep, the caffeine focuses it and let's them actually go to sleep relatively normally.

I personally have to make sure that if I consume caffeine in the morning, it's enough to overcome this paradoxical effect, otherwise I often end up falling back asleep.

eitland2y ago

I tried for a month I think.

I cut all coffeine I was aware of. Coffe, Pepsi Max, everything.

I felt no difference and noticed no change in my health tracking. The only thing I noticed was it was less social.

That said, there have been times were I had to cut down on coffee, but not because of sleep.

embwbam2y ago

People process caffeine super differently. I’m pretty sure caffeine makes me crash 4-6h later which is great for falling asleep

richrichie2y ago

Good point and perhaps i might improve quality of sleep if i gave up that espresso.

But this goes deeper into philosophical discussions about human life and things like art that transcend the banal “useful/useless” prism.

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