Suspect Soporific

May 19, 2006 3:31 PM

Could it be that a little bit of coffee before bedtime is actually helping me sleep better?

I am a passionate morning coffee drinker. But I tend to stop imbibing around 8am. As a rule I am also a rather light sleeper, up several times a night for no apparent reason.

Lately, however, I've been enjoying a little cafe con leche (a couple ounces of coffee with about a pint of milk) as a nightcap about an hour before bed. I started doing this on Friday evenings, just to polish off the morning's brew that was left in the hot-pot. But I began to notice that I felt that I slept really well, better than usual anyway, on these Friday nights. Thinking this might just be a Friday effect I've experimented with this regimen on other nights of the week and found the same effect--I sleep much better; I'm faster to drop off, far less restless during the night, and I find my sleep more satisfying, too.

Could the caffeine in my coffee be the reason for all this? Can the effect of caffeine on a coffee-addict's brain have a similarly calming effect akin to that of Ritalin on the brain of the hyperactive?

posted by RockyChrysler to food & drink (17 comments total)

Just the other day I read (on Wikipedia) that caffeine withdrawl symptoms can start within 12-24 hours, so assuming you're going to bed sometime after 8pm, seems like that might be a reasonable suspect.

I can't really say whether withdrawl affects my sleep (never thought about it before, but now maybe I'll have to experiment a little and find out), but I can definitely vouch for the 12-24 hour timeframe.

(Note: I drink Pepsi, not coffee; not sure if that makes a difference.)
posted by equalpants at 3:42 PM on May 19, 2006

I think it's more likely that the warm milk is soothing you into winding down before bed.
posted by desuetude at 3:44 PM on May 19, 2006

My mother drinks half a pot of coffee in the hour before bed (with plenty of milk) and drifts off to sleep. Myself, if I drink so much as a sip of coffee my heart beats erratically and I don't sleep for days so I expressed concern about her habit. But she assures me she sleeps like a lamb.

I don't think caffeine is a straightforward enough drug that there are any real answers beyond that everyone tolerates it differently, and one woman's soporific is another another man's stimulant.

If you want to do a little investigating, you could try replacing your coffee with decaf and noting the results (or better, having someone else do it outside of your ken to control for placebo or expected results).
posted by baklavabaklava at 4:28 PM on May 19, 2006

Yes.

Your caffeine tolerance is high, therefore a cuppa joe before bed does not keep you up.

Moreover, your caffeine dependency is also high, therefore you are irritable and mildly insomniac without that cuppa before bed.
posted by randomstriker at 4:36 PM on May 19, 2006

Two things:

1. Warm milk is most certainly a soporific. Depending on the coffee/milk ratio in your drink, this could be what is affecting you.

2. If I have caffeine midday, it's hell getting to sleep. But if I have it an hour or two before bedtime, I get to sleep just fine, but more than that, I have incredibly vivid dreams.

Your mileage may vary, of course.
posted by jdroth at 5:52 PM on May 19, 2006

Does the morning coffee wake you up?

I ask because everyone in my family is part of the 10% who are supposedly not affected normally by caffeine... it doesn't wake us up in any way, nor does it seem to keep us from sleeping. But my mom complains that coffee puts her to sleep at night instead. (I theorize that the coffee isn't doing anything, but the warm milk is the culprit.)

(Incidentally, because coffee doesn't wake us, we don't drink a regular morning coffee at all. Coffee is a special treat, usually with lots of milk and sugar... but it's not an every day thing since it doesn't really help with the wakefulness anyway.)
posted by litlnemo at 6:00 PM on May 19, 2006

This is absolutely possible, because of 'antagonistic effects', if I remember the term correctly.

As I understand it, the body becomes trained... when it sees caffeine in the system, it knows it's about to be overstimulated, and releases calming hormones. If you're used to drinking quite a bit, then the effect is probably fairly pronounced.

If you then imbibe just a little bit, the body can go into the normal antagonistic reaction routine... but without the caffeine in your system to begin with, it knocks you right out.

The withdrawal idea is also a good possible explanation, btw. Hopefully someone with Real Medical Training will chime in. :)
posted by Malor at 6:32 PM on May 19, 2006

Only tangentially related is the caffeine nap.
posted by evariste at 7:59 PM on May 19, 2006

interesting comments all. thanks!

but i feel i should amend: the milk in the cafe con leche isn't all that hot, nor is the coffee for that matter after 10 hours in the hot pot, so i think the warm milk theory doesn't really stand up.

it would be interesting if asavage could research this one; it's right up their alley, i think. unless of course, this effect only pertains to me...
posted by RockyChrysler at 9:26 PM on May 19, 2006

I know caffine can make me drowsy during the day.
posted by delmoi at 10:27 PM on May 19, 2006

According to Wikipedia, caffeine has a physiological half-life of 3 1/2 to 6 hours, which seems to support the withdrawal hypothesis.

Some anecdotal goodness too: not only does drinking milk (warm or cold) tend to make me sleepy, but sometimes - if I'm already tired, for example - it's enough to cancel out the effects of the espresso the milk has been mixed with to create a delicious latte. (Incidentally, ice cream makes me sleepy too, but cheese doesn't.) If I'm trying to pull and all-nighter at school, a large coffee with cream and sugar will put me out like a light, but a Red Bull - which has 1/4 of the caffeine - will keep me going for several hours.
posted by joshuaconner at 10:35 PM on May 19, 2006

Check out this article (found through digg):
http://goalsuccess.typepad.com/goaltips/2006/02/how_to_take_a_c.html

It's about "The Caffeine Nap"

A lot of people swear by this. I've noticed the same effect you mention but the difference is I drink coffee black or with a very small amount of milk so the soporific effect of milk probably is *not* the reason you sleep better, but instead the caffeine itself.
posted by bangitliketmac at 10:53 PM on May 19, 2006

There's very little caffeine in coffee that it is 10 hours old. And, you probably shouldn't be drinking 10 hour old coffee at all.
posted by shoepal at 1:53 AM on May 20, 2006

Ok, first off, YMMV and IANAD (or any other kind of health professional).

However I do have some experience with stimulant medications. And I know just the effect you are describing because it happens to me with my ADHD medication. As I understand it, the stimulants excite certain parts of the brain changing the balance of neurotransmitters. It seems that some people's brains are wired in such a way that such excitement has a calming effect. Sometimes it is called a paradoxical effect. I'd be more clear, but it is 3 am.

So sometimes when I am tired and cranky and can't sleep, another dose of Adderall will calm me right down.
Unfortunately, coffee makes me jittery.
posted by monopas at 3:27 AM on May 20, 2006

Yes, this happens to me as well. I drink coffee before bed, and it makes for a great sleep. Don't know why, but I've heard others who experience the same thing.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 7:13 AM on May 20, 2006

I used to use coffee or espresso to put myself to sleep. This worked great until I turned about 38. Now, coffee or caffinated tea after about 6 pm keeps me from sleeping.

For what it is worth, a social worker I used to work with asked if I had ADD. She said she'd noticed I drank huge amounts of coffee, and that it calmed me down.
posted by QIbHom at 8:43 AM on May 20, 2006

It did me, when I was caffeinated.
But that was long ago.
posted by Rash at 8:35 AM on May 21, 2006