Enough Caffeine For You?

     Page Two Hundred Four.
     In 2005, my doctor took me off caffeine for the rest of my life. I'm allowed to cheat in very low moderation, perhaps a couple of cups of coffee per month, but that's about it. Caffeine irritates my kidneys so Doc doesn't me want to tempt fate. I agree with him. So for the last 9 years I've lived primarily caffeine free.
     I'm an exceedingly high energy person naturally. So living sans-caf is not a big deal for me. And, like I say, I'm allowed to cheat occasionally, if I really am tired. But what all this really means is I've become quite aware of caffeine and it's place in contemporary American society. (I'm aware of it since I can't have it. Funny how that works.)
      Which came first: the tremendous growth of coffee houses or America's lack of sleep? We all know that Americans sleep 3-5 hours less per night now than we did 100 years ago. Of course a lot of that is because we don't live on farms and do hard labor all day long. So we simply don't need 10-11 hours of sleep per night. But the fact remains that the human body does intrinsically require 7-8 hours of sleep per 24 hour period. That's just how we were designed. Unfortunately many people under-sleep. Subsequently, lots 'o caffeine. There's currently an epidemic of sleep deprivation and increased caffeine consumption in America.
     What's the chicken and what's the egg? Are the 2 related? Why or why not? What about the fact that Americans work as much nowadays as we did 100 years ago, just not on farms? What about the fact that our current national lack of sleep is exceptionally unhealthy and probably contributing to our obesity problem? And what if Napoleon had B-52 bombers at Waterloo? Would we all be speaking French today? Oui?
     As a kid, I was an elite sleeper. I would definitely have qualified for the Olympics if sleeping were a sport. Through my 20's though, I gradually evolved into a lighter and lighter sleeper. One time the cat walking into my bedroom woke me up. Then one day when I was 31, quite literally "overnight", I stopped sleeping soundly. That night I woke up at 2 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Since then, I've never gone back to my childhood sleep patterns.
     I read everything I could find on sleep. All research suggests that the most effective way to achieve sleep is exercise. Subsequently, I joined my gym when I was 35 (1997) and have been going 3-5 X per week ever since. Also, I walk or run for pleasure/exercise whenever possible. I'll tell you, it works. If I don't get to the gym for a few days, I immediately revert back and may only sleep 4 hours, generating ideas for this blog the other 4 hours that I'm laying in bed.
     I'll tell you what else I've discovered. The day Doc took me off caffeine I started sleeping about 25% more. Turns out that caf has a rebound effect. It lounges around the body for much longer than we realize. (All doctors know this.) When I do treat myself to real coffee or heaven help me, my favorite Coca Cola, I'm much less likely to sleep soundly, even if I've exercised my tushy off. Conversely, If I stop exercising but don't do any caf at all, I'll still sleep  more soundly than I did in 1995.
     I tell people my story if they share with me their sleep problems. I know from first hand experience that sleep can be had if desired. Of course if people don't want sleep, well... that's a different situation. I recently watched Ellen Degeneres' TV show and Arianna Huffington espoused the assets of sleep. For years she thought she had to choose sleep deprivation to get everything done and achieve worldly success. A few years ago though, she redefined her own definition of success and started sleeping more. I think that if somebody like Huffington talks about the assets of sleep on such a forum, we may be seeing a paradigm shift on the need for sleep. After all, why commit slow suicide or increase Mr. Starbucks' stock value by getting less sleep than you require? It just doesn't make sense. (Also, all that caffeine is usually accompanied by much fat and sugar. One more reason for obese America.) Stop the madness!!!