Ok so, whilst I realise that both Tea and Coffee are not high on the health list...

This is both a question and opinion.

My friend is suffering from serious lack of sleep.

Granted she has consumed (roughly) 4-6 cups of coffee a day for the past 25 years of adult hood (bearing in mind that she didn't drink coffee from the age of 0-12 (ish) and again in her 20's - 25's.)

Point being here is this: Granted that other things in life can generally be shit now and then do you think my friend should take two weeks or more out of her habit of drinking this excessive amount of caffeine? 

Perhaps she could switch to tea seeing as one cup of coffee holds 3 x as more caffeine than a cup of tea would?

What do you think?

M x



-- Edited by Maeve Burnon at 22:44, 2009-03-06

Hmmm. You'd think after that many years of that amount of coffee she's have built up a tolerance, but switching to tea or juice or something equally scrummy couldn't hurt, could it? But then she might have withdrawals, when my aunt gave up coffee she had withdrawal headaches for a while after..

She should not stop drinking coffee straight away. The withdrawal would be horrible.

Rather she should gradually drink less coffee, beginning with replacing the cups she drinks last in the day.
Morning coffee is good
Evening coffee is bad

If she drinks coffee in the evening, replace it with tea and then replace the tea with calming caffeine free herbal teas like chamomile.
If she doesn't drink coffee in the evening, go straight for the herby stuff.

Perhaps she has build up some sort of tolerance but, does that mean that her body would get used to this tolerance or perhaps play part in assisting a breakdown from such high consumption?

I think drinking less coffee is something that she could deal with... (cutting coffee out completely would mean hell for the world)

GoGoGo :)

Thank-you all for the voting!


M x

yeah, there will be withdrawl!

I think it does affect your sleep, alot. Thats why people drink it to keep them awake.

Although my mum doesn't seem to stop drinking coffee during the day and she sleeps like a log. So who knows. Maybe it's different for different people.

I still voted yes though

I do love coffee but not to 4-5 cups a day coffee...but thank-you for your vote :)

And can I just say, to all of those who voted for cats or goldfish you are stupid and I love you!

M x

My opinion is here.

Was this a recent opinion Kitty?...

Gosh, no, about two, three years old.

I do love my coffee, and I deffo get with drawal symtoms sometimes. Hence why Im trying to cut down.

For the record, I did two weeks on just one cup of coffee in the morning, to help me reach something akin to awake, and my sleep patterns were not altered at all. (Well, actually, they got worse, but that could be due to not having any medication for the two weeks either.)

Also, when discussing my sleeplessness with my Doctor, we discussed my coffee intake and agreed it was neither excessive or likely to be causing a problem with my sleep. Especially as I stop drinking tea or coffee at around 4pm. :)

Weak coffee makes me incredibly drowsy, especially if milk is added, so everyone is different and nothing is universal.

My poll was a success in the sense that people managed to vote (thanks guys).

Kitty found that actually drinking coffee isn't and didnt make a difference one way or another (and I was witness to this).

I think this goes further than an ''addiction'' in my personal opinion, however congratulations on your coffee cut down!

M x

And now I've been drinking coffee like an opium fiend, I've been sleeping like a little sleepy lamb on valium.

Though the new tablets could be helping with that.

Gah, every time I've been drinking coffee at all lately I've been unable to sleep in the night.

I do not think it is coffee alone who does this to me, I have some stress on my hands and all the spring light always makes me restless and jittery, but the little cups of lovely black temptation is the last drop that tumbles me over the edge into the land of insomnia.

herbal tea, herbal tea, herbal tea. it's actually GOOD for you.
caffiene is generally terrible for your body and mind. decaf is best. Decaf tea is better than decaf coffee, according to my mom, because of the chemicals they use to decaffinate coffee.

Mmm... tea. Tetley's teabag, water in first, teabag out, two sweeteners, pop in the milk, and you have a liquified orgasm. That is how much I love it.

I found this "tea" at the supermarket the other day, made by Lipton and not actually containing tea (they called it a "herbal blend"). It was raspberry, cranberry and rosehip flavoured, and I thought it sounded delicious. I don't drink real tea because the caffeine gives me a headache, so I thought I would try this one. It smelled really awesome, so I made a cup and I simply could not drink it. I've come to the conclusion that either:
a) I have some kind of mental block against tea,
or
b) hot drinks made mostly with water aren't very good.

It smelled so delicious, I'm very disappointed :(

I adore tea. It's kind of like a lifeline. Tea cures all. So do supernoodles.

I like coffee more sometimes, but my low tolerance for caffine means it makes me manic, and apparently I'm a little scary when manic. I think it adds to the fun of things, really.

Can someone go make me some coffee please? Decaffinated coffee, 2 sugars and no milk please? The lack of caffiene is goooood :)

Ok caffeine (please forgive me but i used to answer the phone for a major tea manufacturer, somehow this information has been hardwired into me) -

Firstly, sorry to have to say so but if you're wanting to cut out the caffeine completely then you'll have to give up chocolate :(

If you're friend's drinks instant it'll have about 65mg per cup, if it's filter it'll be more like 115. Tea has about 50mg, green tea about 44, hot choc about 10mg and herbal tea (or 'infusions' if you must) usually doesn't contain any.

Best thing would be not to just quit coffee (caffeine withdrawal = nasty), but try to cut down and never drink it after about 4pm. Chamomile tea is great for aiding sleepiness, but avoid hot chocolate coz of the caffeine. Hot milk and honey is yummy too :)

I didn't realize how much tea and coffee I drunk until I went away and got the shakes lol

Is your friend particularly stressed atm?
That might be part of it.
In the meantime, no caffeine after midday, I drink peppermint tea instead.
And have a warm drink before bed, it's lovely.

I drink coffee sometimes right before bed and I sleep well. It's never really had any effect on my sleeping patterns no matter how much or what time I drink it. In fact when I'm tired I drink it to wake me up but nothing happens. It sucks actually.

I don't give a damn of the problems with it, I LOVE COFFEE!!

I love both coffee and tea (I am a caffiene addict). For me tea gets the job done however neither tea or coffee has kept me up. I have been known to sleep better with tea/coffee in my system. Energy drinks are a different story. One time I drunk the largest can of Monster and I didn't get to sleep until 4 something (close to 5)... I was miserable and it was so not worth it.

Tea addict. I am sad that I had to give up jasmine tea since I have a cross reaction with jasmine. =( Never liked coffee. But the only time caffeine has prevented me from sleeping is having a coke after 9pm. -shrug-

My new regular...Chai Latte from Starbucks. NOM.

Tea, that is, if it's sweet, cold tea. I swear it runs in Southerners veins!