

Ask HN: Relation Coffee VS Sleep - phzbOx

I'm curious to know more about the quantity of coffee versus the sleep quality you have. Feel free to share tricks you have to sleep better or ways to handle the stress/coffee versus more sleep situation.  Thanks
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DanBC
Anecdotally: I feel like small amounts of caffeine after about 3pm destroy my
sleep.

I practice "sleep hygiene" (UK NHS websites have a lot about this) and if that
fails I get a short prescription for one of the Z drugs, usually 7 days of
zopiclone, to 'kick' my sleep back into a pattern.

There are considerable problems with use of melatonin: It's not regulated in
the US which means you will find it hard to accurately dose and the research
suggests it's pretty lousy, unless you have jet lag. I'm in the UK, and
melatonin is a prescription only medication, and GPs will usually not
prescribe it for sleep disorders.

[http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001520/melatonin-for-the-
pre...](http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001520/melatonin-for-the-prevention-
and-treatment-of-jet-lag)

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1370957/>

<http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/melatsum.htm>

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littledude
the half-life of caffeine is about 5hrs and there's around 260mg in a 12oz
coffee. you'd probably want to stop drinking after the first few hours of your
day so it's mostly out of your system by the time you go to sleep.

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damoncali
Interesting. Do you happen to know why caffeine withdrawal symptoms tend to
kick in after (for me) about 36 hours?

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davyjones
My trick: run everyday and limit chai to two mugs a day.

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heretohelp
Coffee in proximity of sleep-time will keep me up all night because I have a
messed up circadian rhythm as it is (28 hours).

I usually "downgrade" to tea later in the day and maintain a consistent
melatonin regimen. Melatonin is well-attested in its ability to improve sleep
quality:

<http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/melatsum.htm>

I wouldn't count on the efficacy of melatonin unless you are sleeping 6-8
hours a night and are otherwise healthy and devoid of a sleep disorder.

People like to mention vitamin D, but taking it as a supplement is correlated
with worse sleep, not better. As a counter-suggestion to vitamin D
supplementation I would avoid artificial light exposure (use Flux if possible)
after sunset as well. (This has been shown to produce delayed onset sleep
patterns.)

That's the only real factual data I have for this, I would avoid relying on
anecdote.

This was not medical advice, just a citation of facts.

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dholowiski
Avoid artificial light exposure after sunset? Where I live, the sun sets at
5PM in the winter.

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heretohelp
Specifying artificial because that's your primary source of light in promixity
of bedtime.

