I need a bomb

[andrewducker]

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that 80-90% of people in the USA drink caffeine every day.

I mostly cut it out of my diet a while back, and find that I sleep better and am happier since then, but I haven't been a major user since I realised it was taking three cups of coffee to get me going in the morning and quit overnight (the headache lasted about four days).

[Poll #1379482]

Comments

[ias.livejournal.com]

I drink three,sometimes four, mugs of tea a day. Once or twice a week I might have a coffee instead of one of the teas but usually if I have coffee at home it is (weak) decaf, or have decaf, half caf.

I did overdo my caffeine intake when an au pair in Italy and had what can only be describes as the shakes for a couple of days. Ever since I have been rather sensitive to coffee so can't really have more than a couple of cups at day at the very most.

During pregnancy I tend to be very sensitive to caffeine (both tea and coffee) which is why I discovered Dowe Egberts decaff isn't bad. however I have yet to find a decaf tea which tastes at all nice.

As for whether I use caffeine to wake up: rarely. Sometimes on long journeys I want to stop for tea/coffee and chocolate but I think it is the break and chocolate which work better than the caffeine alone. I'll even have a cup of tea at bedtime sometimes and it never affects my sleep. But mostly caffeine is just another mechanism for sugar delivery: when the garklet was v. small and I was still on mat leave, nmg would bring me a cup of tea in bed and would always be able to gauge how bad a night I'd had depending on whether I asked for a spoon, spoon and a half or two spoons of sugar in my tea.

[andrewducker]

Apparently "Caffeine's half-life is approximately 3–4 hours. In women taking oral contraceptives this is increased to 5–10 hours,and in pregnant women the half-life is roughly 9–11 hours."