My Interesting Circadian Disability

[braumeister]

I've always been fascinated with reports about caffeine interfering with sleep if taken late in the day.

When I lived in Brazil, back in the 80s, it was normal to end the evening meal with several cafezinhos (small cups of very strong coffee with a liberal dose of sugar). Typically, this would be anywhere from 10 pm to 2 am.

Yet I never had a problem getting up around 6 am to go to w*rk. OK, I was a lot younger then.

But when I've returned to visit, most recently about five years ago, I saw the same thing. I'm sure those little coffees in Brazil are loaded with high octane caffeine (not to mention incredibly good flavor), but they don't seem to bother anyone in terms of sleep.

Meanwhile, back here in the good old USA, I can't have coffee after around 4 pm and still get to sleep at a normal time.

It's a mystery to me.

 

[Totoro]

Went to Svalbard a year ago, in full summer. Sun never sets then.

Ran a small experiment one day: Got up early, I stayed outside in the sun all day and decided to go to sleep once I felt tired. Ended up staying awake 27 hours or so, felt as fresh as can be.

Amazing experience, I normally really do need my sleep.

Once I went back inside the cabin at 10 am or so and closed all curtains, I felt tired and was asleep within 10 minutes.

After that, I started paying more attention to light.

 

[John Galt III]

Success story here! In retirement my sleep is much better than when w*rking. When working, I had the stress and the weird hours causing insomnia, which caused more stress, which caused more insomnia, repeat ad infinitum. Now retired, I sleep well. Just the bathroom awakenings, then right back to sleep. Occasionally before sleep I take an acetaminophen pill which relaxes me and also provides interesting dreams.

 

[Delaney]

Almost every night I am wide awake from 3 to 5 am. This was a real problem when working but now I just accept this. I read an entire book on the history of sleep. It was interesting how little we know about sleep. The main thing we've learned recently is that sleep is VERY important. There is a theory that older people get up early and teenagers sleep in so that back in caveman days, the staggered sleep meant that someone was always awake and on guard. Also, about 100 years ago, people talked about second sleep, so having two periods of sleep each night was common.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

This Ted talk explains the importance of sleep for brain health - in short, the brain lacks a lymphatic system and must drain waste away through other means that can only be accomplished during deep sleep -

Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep | Talk Video | TED.com