#1 First, stop this one thing! #MyDearSleep
‘Energy’ is required for performing action in the world. While there are so many sources through which we can acquire this energy, there is one constant source available for all of us — ‘sleep.
There is one more source which we commonly used to do, partially because they are easily available to us for years and partially because they really do the job getting the much needed ‘energy’ back to us.
What we are referring to is also a religion for many people — there’s so much of emotion, bond and love associated with it!
These are none other than the nervous stimulants which we consume every day — simple the ‘coffee’ / ‘tea’.
Sorry for reminding you. Now, don’t go searching for a drink! 😣 Please continue reading..
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Coffee and tea: from rural to urban!
I spent the early part of my childhood in a rural environment surrounded by family and friends! Grabbing a coffee/tea is a part of every day routine both in the morning, evening (and whenever you get a headache),a very usual practice that I’ve noticed.
The people whom I’ve seen working on the farms starting from 9 AM, usually get a dual break between their works (very similar to a regular office with desk based work) one at 11 AM and another one at 4 PM for drinking tea along with a snack. It keeps them going for another 2 hours till 6 PM as they wrap up their day!
But what I’ve experienced is a very early sleep/wake up routines in our villages — one definite reason is the lack of lighting that’s available in the night so there’s limited scope for moving around. The other reason is, most of people have cattle to take care for and they wake up so early (without alarm clocks)!
The early rising culture is naturally ingrained in a rural setting, despite of the multiple tea/coffee consumption that’s prevalent.
But, the context with an urban setting and the ‘Coffee’ culture here is totally different. With lights all around the day and night, we are seeing so many StarBucks / Cafe Coffee Day outlets, who serve as coffee in the middle of busy work /discussion / interesting conversation. The nervous stimulants are more than just ‘energizers’, they take up a very usual role in our day to day lives here.
As students start using these stimulants towards extending their sleeping hours, so they can study extra. People at work, are tuned to the coffee machines for any productive output, avoid pressure and to find relaxation.
During my school and college, though it was not an addiction, consumption of coffee/tea was very usual for me. I’ve worked for organizations which provided flexibility and ‘work from anywhere’ option, which helped to move around and work with the ‘coffee’ next to me!
It was all cool — until my sleep routine went totally upside down as I began experiencing as if I belong to the other side of the planet. I called myself ‘night owl’ — the idea of waking up early has never existed and that’s something I’ve never imagined I could do sometime.
Was so much used to the ‘Coffee’ culture, in the past few years — I’ve started noticing there is a huge difference in the way I go to sleep especially during those days I get a strong coffee, it is so difficult for me to shut down.
The pandemic has multiplied the issues — during these times I was working on my own — doing freelancing and building EduRiseGlobal from scratch experimenting on multiple things, growing the YouTube channel. The sleeping cycle went on to huge hit — one day I saw myself sleeping on the evenings, the other day I was sleeping on the morning, there is no set pattern and idea of sleeping during the night has totally gone!
As the lock downs were slowly lifted away, I still found myself in a place — difficult to come out of the improper sleeping routines. There are times, when I used to wake up for the whole night, simply unable to sleep — went and saw the Marina Sunrise and came back and slept till afternoon.
The biggest issue with the improper sleep routines, is what I referred in the beginning of the blog — ‘Energy’. You feel the lack of energy through out the day, which makes it impossible to do any productive work especially things that require you to move around.
While these challenging times were on, I got the opportunity to work in an environment that required me working out of the office, with the working timings set. The energy drinks such as ‘Tea’ and ‘Coffee’ were very common — in fact, during every office meetings ‘tea’ was offered and we had access to one of the best kind of coffee parlors in the city!
In the first few weeks of the work, as I was unable still unable to get a hold of my sleeping routines — I took a drastic step of not drinking coffee/tea as an experiment!
I consciously avoided consuming them during the meetings — the efforts has definitely started working on my favor — one of those days, as I was reading something around 10 PM, I felt something very unusual — I was dozing off from my chair. As I started noticing I’m feeling sleepy — all of a sudden I felt a huge sense of relief and freedom, now that I can sleep early, I can get up early, I can get back to work early, and the cycle can flow freely!
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The ‘Tea’ test!
While my new sleeping routine was going fine for almost a month, during one of those days in the midst of work pressure, ended up drinking a ‘tea’ as an experiment. As expected I was unable to sleep for almost half of the night — the experience clearly proved that there is a clear difference when you stop consuming the nervous stimulants!
The ‘Hot Chocolate’ surprise!
Whenever I went to places like StarBucks, or some other Cafe — I tried choosing other drinks such as ‘Hot Chocolate’ over the regular Capuccino, but to my surprise they also took a toll on the sleeping routine, not to the extend of regular Coffee. But, any energy drink consumed at a higher volume can easily affect the integrity of the sleeping system in place.
These days, when I visit some Cafe, the first option on top of my mind — is to go for a fresh juice.
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A coffee is very powerful — once you start doing some research on the origins and interesting applications of the drink during the World War you will agree to the fact!
While it can easily power up our focus/motivation/energy instantly, the first step if you want me to suggest towards building a stronger sleeping routine, is to stop the nervous stimulants completely!
If you are so addicted, that you can’t avoid it completely, then the suggestion would be to — not to consume any of them after 12 PM of the day, so that the coffee/tea you’ve consumed in the morning loses its effect towards the evening!
Feeling tired -> Sleeping on time -> Waking up early -> Repeat.
This is the goal we’re trying to achieve.
One thing I always remembered was: you can’t wake up early unless you don’t sleep early. You can’t sleep early unless you feel really tired. You won’t feel tired unless you spend all your energy. If you consume coffee/tea it will add up extra energy which will be an additional work for you!
But still.. I’m unable to find ways to spend all my existing energy through out the day in a work that doesn’t involve a lot of physical work! What do I do?
Let’s explore this the next week! :)
Have questions? Ask me right away on Instagram.
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Note: All opinions are my own. Writing this not as a medical expert, but as a human curious about experiments! Please use this just as an inspiration, if you need detailed information for a medical problem, consider reaching out to a physician.
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For extensive reading
Here are some interesting coffee-break / tea-break articles(you’ll see sleep as an important point in all the articles).
