Sunday, March 8, 2009

I Don't Need No Stinkin' No-Doze

At about 2:30 this morning - or 3:30, whatever stupid daylight savings time - I was still wide awake. In fact, I had stayed up working on various PTO and other things that needed to get done until almost midnight (old time), not realizing it was that late. It was great to get stuff done, but I'm a lady who needs her sleep, and I had to get up early to get to choir practice before church.

I finally laid down in bed close to midnight, but sleep just wasn't coming. No worries, I usually read something for a little bit and have the Food Network on for awhile in the background. I read three articles in Strategy & Business, which is usually more than enough to send me off to slumberland.

Nope, still awake, but I decided I at least needed to try to get some sleep, so I turned off the light and closed my eyes. Nothing. I tried doing breathing exercises and counting backwards slowly. Nope, still awake and not really interested in sleeping.

Now I was getting annoyed.

There was no sleep coming, and I didn't even feel tired. I could count the minutes ticking by though, and I couldn't shut my brain off. Just because I couldn't shut my brain off doesn't mean it was actually functioning, however.

If finally dawned on me as I was running through the things I needed to do today what I had done yesterday. I took the wee ones to the chiropractor. Then I went to choir practice. Then I started soliciting donations for the wee ones' preschool fundraiser.

A red flag finally went up.

I hadn't had time yesterday to eat by the time I was soliciting donations. And at 12:15, I was getting pretty hungry. And I happened to be at a Dunkin' Donuts / Baskin Robbins combo. You'd think that I'd go for a donut or some ice cream or maybe even a breakfast sandwich, right?

Yeah, not so much. Me, who doesn't get out to eat much, decided that the Iced Mocha Swirl sounded really good. And it could sorta count for my meal, too. Done and done.

Uhhh. Yeah. At about 3 or 3:30, I realized that the Iced Mocha Swirl I had so thoroughly enoyed contained caffeine. I don't consume caffeine. I don't drink pop, and I don't like coffee. And I fortunately don't eat enough chocolate to count.

A lesson for all. If you don't drink anything with caffeine on a regular basis, ingesting caffeine will really affect you. You won't be able to sleep. And you won't be tired. Well, at least not until the next day when you rue that caffeine and swear to yourself that you won't drink anything with caffeine in it again.

Especially not on the second Sunday in March when you're already losing an hour of sleep.

12 comments:

Unknown March 8, 2009 at 5:22 PM  

Not a problem for those of us whose blood stream is already 80% caffeine to begin with. {*grin*}

MaBunny March 8, 2009 at 7:45 PM  

I've pretty much been decaffeinated for about 10 yrs. I have it every now and then, but like if I drink an entire can of caffeinated soda I will not be able to leave the restroom for a while. big turn off to caffeine. I don't do coffee in the morning either, lol. I bet you were flying!

Karen March 8, 2009 at 7:49 PM  

Well thankfully I don't suffer from that problem. Frequently I have coffee as a downer before bed.

septembermom March 8, 2009 at 8:13 PM  

Watch out for that sneaky caffeine. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do fall in the chocolate/sugar trap at night. I've had those restless nights. I'm going to take your advice and watch my caffeine. I don't need to be more wiped out everyday :)

anymommy March 9, 2009 at 12:32 AM  

Yeah, definitely not generally a problem for me, although if I drink it after 4 p.m. it can affect my sleep. Wishing you a good night's sleep tonight.

Katie Lane March 9, 2009 at 2:34 AM  

At least you figured it out right.

Sheryl March 9, 2009 at 8:53 AM  

I'm the one who drinks iced tea right before I go to bed. I usually don't have a problem falling asleep. But I do know that when I shut the caffeine off earlier in the day, I get a better quality of sleep.

Cookie March 9, 2009 at 10:36 AM  

I don't drink much caffeine either. I try to limit myself to one cup of coffee and one soda a day. And that's not every day! I know that if I drink caffeine late, I won't be able to sleep. HOpe you get to sneak a nap in somewhere ;)

Debbie March 9, 2009 at 10:52 AM  

I bet it had an extra helping of caffeine! Sorry you had that trouble.

Michelle March 9, 2009 at 8:07 PM  

Dan - That is very true. I have to admit that my husband had a Starbucks bottled thingie at about 9:30 on Saturday and was snoring away only a couple hours later.

MaBunny - Yikes! I think I'll take staying awake to that. You'd think that I'd figure it out eventually, no?

Karen - See above. You and my husband....

septembermom - Yeah, it sneaks in there. If I were looking for it more, I think it'd be easier to find if that makes sense.

anymommy - Thanks. I will say that LAST night was much better. I still didn't want to wake up this morning though...

Katie Lane - Welll, true. But I would have preferred to figure it out ohhh I don't know at 8pm instead?

Sheryl - That's an impressive trick! Maybe I should just go for caffeine all the time....

Cookie - The worst part? I can't nap. I can be exhausted and empty house and cannot for the life of me fall asleep in the daytime.

Debbie - Yeah! It was those Dunkin' Donuts people playing a practical joke on me. I like that theory :)

Angela March 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM  

Oh no! I totally understand how you feel. That happens to me too and that's why I quit coffee (but oh, how I miss it in the mornings!) Hope you get a good night's sleep tonight!

Michelle March 11, 2009 at 11:31 PM  

Angela - Yeah... I was fine until last night when about 8:30 I wanted something sweet but didn't want dessert so made myself an ice chai latte (fewer calories, lasts longer, satisfying, etc). Yeah. I figured out about 1am that this probably also has caffeine in it. Oops.

  © Blogger template 'Solitude' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP