June 17, 2005

1) matt said (on 06/17/05 at 07:21 AM):

:(

On the bright side, Diet Coke and M&Ms are back on the menu...

2) Jill Smith said (on 06/17/05 at 07:32 AM):

I decaffeinated myself once. It had no appreciable impact on anything in my life, except that most decaf coffee tastes awful.

I can't speak to the sugar part, though.

3) Mr.D. said (on 06/17/05 at 07:45 AM):

Sounds like a 22 minute lie-in, to me?

4) krimpet said (on 06/17/05 at 09:10 AM):

Once, plagued by sleeplessness and tummyaches I laid off the caffeine for almost six months. It transformed everything. Suddenly my life was worse in every imaginable way and also in a few that I hadn't imagined. I was tired and irritable, incapable of wit and plagued by headaches. Worse still, my inability to sleep was unchanged.

I suggest exercise, lots of it. Tuckering your self out is a much better strategy.

5) jon collins said (on 06/17/05 at 09:19 AM):

there is absolutely nothing wrong with being awake and active at 6am. Not only do you get more work done, but you get to be that obnoxious person who says "I get up at 6am" at random times. Like "could you please pass that salt, and I get up at 6 am every morning," and "how about those Yankees, and I'm far superior to you in every way."

6) anapestic said (on 06/17/05 at 09:35 AM):

I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said, "m&ms are the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life." He was born at a time when the average life expectancy was about 50, and he lived to the age of 94.

7) Famous Author Rob Byrnes said (on 06/17/05 at 09:38 AM):

Oh, Faustus, I can not only sympathize, but go you one better: how would you like to be a regular 6:00 AM waker who has been waking up at 3:30 AM for the past few weeks?

8) Joe.My.God. said (on 06/17/05 at 10:23 AM):

I wake up every morning at 6:30am, no matter what. I havent owned an alarm clock in years, I use the time on the cable box as a clock. And every morning for breakfast I have Mountain Dew and M&Ms. True story.

9) Jeffrey said (on 06/17/05 at 10:24 AM):

I find that as I get older, I am becoming more like my mother, who wakes up at 2:30 a.m. and basically stares at the ceiling for the next few hours. I have stemmed the tide at 6 a.m. so far, but I do often think of all the writing I could get done at 2:30 a.m....

10) Anono Blogger said (on 06/17/05 at 10:41 AM):

Life without *$$? No way...

11) David said (on 06/17/05 at 11:21 AM):

I don't drink coffee and ration the refined sugar I eat. I can easily sleep until 9AM.
I don't care if you hate me.

12) Dafina Girl said (on 06/17/05 at 02:57 PM):

Maybe the withdrawal pains woke you up? I try not to consume caffeine after 4pm but I stay up too late anyway. I'd do it for another day, but if you can't (I certainly couldn't live without caffeine) have you ever tried valerian root to sleep? It tastes disgusting -- it's the herb from which valium is extracted -- but it will totally help you get on a better sleep schedule if you drink it before bed.

Ouch - you're braver than I am.

13) Andy said (on 06/17/05 at 04:40 PM):

Maybe you're like me. My internal clock is totally synched up with the sun. Lately I've been waking up at like 5:40, even. Six months from now, just try to get me out of bed at 7:30. I think I need to be a farmer. Or self-employed. Or something.

14) Anonymous said (on 06/17/05 at 06:49 PM):

Three words: Ambien. Ambien. Ambien.

Even a half-tab works wonders.

The only problem: I tend to snore, roll around and punch my partner in my sleep once I've taken it - but hey, I'm sleeping soundly, so isn't it a small price for him to pay for my peace?

15) Jess said (on 06/17/05 at 06:59 PM):

The same kind of thing keeps happening to me. Every day, I wake up at 5:30. No matter what I eat or drink, at 5:30 every morning I'm up.

I've narrowed down the cause a bit. It may have to do with my alarm being set for 5:30, but I'm not jumping to any conclusions yet!

16) Monica said (on 06/17/05 at 08:02 PM):

Caffeine has rarely affected me one way or the other as far as sleep is concerned--I honestly can drink a cup of coffee and go to sleep right afterwards.

However, I discovered this past weekend that without caffeine I'm a moron. I had three papers to write this past weekend, and sat down (after sleeping until 11 or so) to write them and was an idiot for a good hour. Then I had a can of Tab, and had no problem writing away.

Of course, it may have nothing to do with the caffeine--it may be whatever the chemicals in Tab I'm addicted to are. It may be like when I tried to smoke American Spirit cigarettes and still needed to smoke afterwards, since I was still craving the additives.

17) Sin said (on 06/17/05 at 08:16 PM):

Count yourself lucky. I haven't altered my consumption of anything in any way at all, but for the last four days, I haven't been able to sleep. On the plus side, I've now defeated Sauron about eighteen times on the PlayStation 2 version of Lord of the Rings.

18) Kevin said (on 06/17/05 at 09:11 PM):

I'd kill for that sleep schedule. Call it my youth, but I'm wired to go to bed around 4:00, then to stay comatose until the early afternoon. I love the mornings, but my circadian rythyms clearly despise me and want to prevent me from ever seeing them.

19) Deanndra said (on 06/17/05 at 10:43 PM):

Beer works well for me. Or wine, whichever. I haven't slept well in about a month. Try exercising about an hour before bed. I always heard that if you get your heart rate going, then let it slow, then go to bed, it works out. Good luck! :-)

20) Uncle Zoloft said (on 06/18/05 at 06:57 AM):

I too am a early riser. This pattern started several years ago with a Spring forward time change ~ or maybe it was Prince Welbutran working as a morning meteorologist from 4:30am - 10am for 8 years of our relationship.

Take two diazepam before you go to sleep little one and all will be well.

21) Chris said (on 06/18/05 at 10:36 AM):

Did u know that once u reach adulthood your slow steady decline in amount of night sleep is not cos u need less sleep but because your brain is slowly rotting and your brain is losing the ability *to* sleep. Yup, it's true. No, really, no kidding. Ask ur psychiatrist BF to confirm. He can prolly show you pics of decaying brain matter in old people. There's debate in the sleep literature about whether really old people still have one of the phases of sleep (stage 4 delta-wave deep sleep).

Glad I could help :)

22) Jenna said (on 06/18/05 at 12:01 PM):

I may be wrong, but I think one night was not a fair test.

23) JO said (on 06/18/05 at 01:55 PM):

Hang in there mate!

24) Mike said (on 06/18/05 at 03:55 PM):

Have you had those dark chocolate M&Ms? Now those are good. And Coke Zero or whatever you call it is good, too. Add rum to the mix and you have my general state of daily affairs. I can't imagine why you'd give up any of it! Of course, I slept about 10 hours last night, too....

25) Mushlette said (on 06/18/05 at 11:46 PM):

I preferred my twenties, a decade during which I slept easily, deeply, and constantly. Waking up early grosses me out. Pah.