The Fiend Caffeine

Thursday night was book club night.  As usual, we went out to dinner before the meeting, this time to Cattle Baron's and had a nice visit.  I was cold, and at Barnes and Noble I bought a Chai Tea.  I should know better. It has caffeine, and I rarely do caffeine any more.  But, usually a couple of glasses of wine counter acts that.  Well, not so on Thursday night. I finally went to bed, about 2:30 AM.  And tossed and turned forever, it felt like. I tried playing the pain management CD that puts me to sleep, but that did not work. I just could not get comfortable. I finally got up, made some Sleepytime Tea, which usually does nothing to help me sleep, and the results were no different that night.  I read, and finally became drowsy around 4:30 and drowsed off and on until it was time to get up to go to work, about 6:45 Friday morning. 

I was not too tired at work, and then ran errands afterward, but went to bed early Friday night.

Tea

My mother was a tea drinker. She drank her tea plain.  For years, she drank coffee in the morning, because my father drank coffee.  Sometimes, she would drink iced coffee in the summer. But she preferred tea, and at the noon and evening meals, she drank tea.  After many years, she drank tea in the morning.

For years, I was a coffee drinker. But I kept tea on hand.  Because when I did not feel well, or needed a hot drink to warm me up, I preferred tea to coffee or cocoa. 

My mother drank orange pekoe or pekoe tea, and for years, I did not realize there was any other. In high school, I was introduced to Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea.  And, somewhere along the line, I was introduced to jasmine tea, at a Chinese restaurant.

In college I was introduced to herb teas, which, I believe are really infusions.  We thought it was exciting to drink Celestial Seasonings teas http://www.celestialseasonings.com/ , as they were a "hippy" product. Well, they are a very mainstream and well respected product now.  Over the years, I have grown to enjoy many of their teas.

I really like Bengal Spice, more for the aroma than the taste.  One of my most favorite is Peppermint.  I can drink a lot of that.  I sometimes make it into iced tea in the summer, although I prefer to drink hot tea, even in the summer, most of the time.

I tried a wellness tea, and it was too bland. I do like the Sleepytime teas, and Tension Tamer.  Most of the teas I prefer have some menthol, mint or eucalyptus in them. Many also have licorice.  I have a licorice tea. I drank too much one time, and my heart pounded, I became dizzy and felt awful.  I think it was the effect of the licorice http://nccam.nih.gov/health/licoriceroot.

I have tried many kinds and flavors of tea. Many are just pekoe tea, flavored. I like those okay, but I still prefer herb teas.  One of my early favorites was Ginger Twist, http://liptontea.elsstore.com/view/product/?id=17641&cid=296, a Lipton tea I can no longer find locally.  It was truly soothing to my stomach.

I have also had and enjoyed African Red tea or Rooibos, or bush tea.  I drank this years ago, and remembered it when I watched the TV series and read the books about "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" http://www.mccallsmith.com/botswana.htm, in which the protagonist drank bush tea often..

But when I am cold, nothing warms me like hot orange pekoe tea.

Nightlights

I have a nightlight for every room in my house, except the bathrooms.  They are all light sensitive.  Some have a yellow glow, and some a more purplish glow.  I am always surprised, in the middle of the night, how much light they afford. I find it very comforting to awaken and not have the house be pitch black, or almost so.

I especially like the effect when the moon is very bright, as it is tonight. I can see very well in the house without the over head lights or area lamps on. 

I wonder if my penchant for not having the house dark effects my ability to sleep.  I am suffering from insomnia, which I have not had in quite some time.  It does not bother me.  There have been periods in my life when I did not get a full night sleep for days on end, and when I did get a through night sleep, it was less than 5 hours.

For years, if I got more than 5 and a half or 6 hours of sleep, I woke up too groggy the next morning. The last sixteen years or so, except for a brief period in 2002 and again in 2004, I have slept better than I ever had in my life.  I think it was a combination of things. 

For a while, I was in a relationship in which I felt very comforted and led to my sleeping well.  I lived in the country, and there was always a lot of physical activity which helped to tire me out.  I had stopped drinking coffee after my morning allotment, and eventually stopped drinking any caffeinated drinks during the day. I know this contributed to my sleeping better.

Well, I am not in that relationship.  I rarely drink any caffeinated drinks, even in the morning.  I am not physically active.  But most nights, by midnight or so, I am ready to sleep.  I have learned, long ago, that if I lay down to sleep before I am sleepy, I will toss and turn, so I might as well stay up until I am sleepy.  I still have an occasional night of less sleep than normal, but not true insomnia as I am experiencing tonight.

I made a mistake tonight. It was well after mid-night; I was reading, but not really sleepy.  But I shut off the light and decided to go to sleep, any way.  I did not even doze.  I have had a pleasant evening thinking and petting first one cat then another as two of them took turns visiting. But I could not sleep.  My eyes are tired, but I am not really sleepy.  Yet.  I will be as it closes in on morning.

I wonder if using the nightlights contributes to my not sleeping.  We had nightlights when I was growing up, but my bedroom was dark.  If we left the shades up, the streetlights shone in, but we generally pulled the shades down, unless it was snowing and we wanted to watch the snow. I had periodic insomnia, even then. 

Being in a strange bed or strange environment does not usually result in my having difficulty sleeping.  Unless I go to bed before I am ready to go to sleep.  Then the same problem arises.

I will wait till I nod off before I try to go back to bed.  If I do not get much sleep tonight, I will do better tomorrow night. Maybe.  I can go for many nights with insomnia.  I drag during the day. But I can not sleep at night. If I take a sleep aid, it is wine.  But I do not want to drink wine after midnight. I am afraid it will not wear off by morning.

Coffee, Tea or Caffeine?

I used to be the kind of person who had a coffee cup in her hand from first thing in the morning until I went to bed at night.  I started drinking coffee when I was in high school, and continued on for years.

Sometime in the 1980s, I stopped drinking coffee, but continued to drink cola and other sodas that contain caffeine.  I also drank tea.  That lasted about a year, then I started drinking coffee again. Sometime in the early 1990's, I changed from morning coffee to drinking diet cola in the morning. I went back to drinking coffee at some point.

In the late 1990s, I got away from drinking coffee, except in the morning.  I slowly weaned myself off caffeine drinks during the day, and for a while used tomato juice for my afternoon pick-me-up.  I now use neither, and mostly drink non-caffeine containing sodas. I also drink herb teas, more correctly called infusions, which do not contain caffeine.

I still occasionally have a cup of coffee for breakfast, especially on a cold Sunday morning. I have learned not to have two cups of coffee, because it REALLY gives me the jitters. I sometimes drink real tea, with caffeine, especially if I am at a Oriental food restaurant. I like jasmine tea, which is usually a brewed tea with jasmine flavor in it.

The last time I went out for Chinese food in the evening, I finished the pot of tea which I was provided.  I thought it would keep me awake, but it did not.

Today, I went to a meeting at a delicatessen.  This place is strange, and does not offer warm tea. Their beverage choices are limited. The have really good BREWED tea, not instant tea, and only sell "iced tea." They serve it in very large cups, I suspect maybe even 32 oz cups.  I bought one today.  They let me get tea with out ice, since they do not serve hot tea.  I gulped down the entire cup of tea in the course of our hour long meeting.   One of my colleagues commented she would like tea, but at that time of the day, did not dare to, due to the caffeine influence. I understand.

When I left the meeting, I could feel the influence of the caffeine:  my heart was racing, I felt jittery, and my head was pounding.  It did not feel good.

Today was a beautiful day, and my plan was to do some serious yard work after the meeting (I would have started it before the meeting, but I did not want to go to the meeting smelly and sweaty, and would not have had enough time to make it worth my while to work and then take a shower.) Well, I arrived home very energized.  I was able to accomplish all I wanted to do, and then some, in my yard. I am grateful for that, and I believe the caffeine jolt helped me.

The trick will be, now, if I can go to sleep. We shall see. The caffeine in tea does not seem to me to be as powerful as that in coffee.  That may just be my mindset, and we do know the influence the mind has in regards to such things.

I think I am still racing just a little. And, it really is too early for me to think about going to bed, but my eyes are getting tired, and I am starting to yawn, which are good signs that I may be able to sleep tonight.