Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: thedoc on 25/10/2013 11:04:42
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Why is it that when I drink coffee it can make me more sleepy? Other people seem to drink coffee and wake up!
Asked by Matt Burnett
Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/neuroscience/show/20131020/)
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We answered this question on the show...
We posed this question to the brain panel.
Mike - It depends on the time course. I’d be surprised if somebody would [img float=right]/forum/copies/RTEmagicC_sleeping_student_02.jpg.jpg[/img]drink a cup of coffee then immediately feels sleepy. But I think it’s perfectly reasonable to feel sleepy a little bit later on because what's happening when you drink the coffee is that caffeine is complicated but its main effect is to block the action of a transmitter called adenosine which is a sort of dampening down a transmitter if you like in the brain. So, when you block the effect then you feel more awake. Later on, when the coffee effect wears off after it gets eliminated in every 4 hours or so, so when that's gone, the adenosine is still chugging along there and then that may then switch the other way so you feel more sleepy. So, I don’t know of a circumstances where you would drink coffee and then suddenly feel sleepy.
Bill- Except perhaps if you had a strong association with coffee as a thing that you took next to going to sleep. Like children here, nursery melodies and they're put to sleep by it. If you had a routine in which you drank coffee and then went to sleep, it may be a signal to sleep and would help you get to sleep. Is that possible?
Hannah - Or maybe he associates coffee with incredibly boring activities like being in the office.
Katie - Feeling really tired?
Hannah - Maybe there's other listeners out there who experiences also. If so, we’d like to hear from you.
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I've always thought that coffee can cause a spike in alertness, followed quite soon afterwards by a crash.
Perhaps heavy coffee drinkers are also often sleep deprived, or perhaps don't get "good sleep", causing additional rebound drowsiness.
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My guess is that this person is just one of those people who don't seem to be affected by caffeine, or need very large doses for it to take effect.
Then the sleepy effect would be caused by simply just having a warm drink, which often makes people tired. But would work just well with any hot drink like tea or hot chocolate.
If it turned out not to work with other hot drinks, obviously this theory wouldn't work,
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I'm sure I heard Chris (or maybe it was Dr Karl) say once that in some people, coffee can stimulate the part of them that wants to sleep, thus making them sleepier. I'm sure when the doctor described it it was much more scientific and lucid than that, but that's the message I took from it.
I sometimes wonder whether one can develop a dependence on caffeine which means they are intrinsically more tired all the time, and drinking coffee just brings them back to a "normal" level of background tiredness.
Also, if I drink coffee at night, I get tired because it's night and I want to go to bed. I don't think the coffee has a major effect on this (not as much as my kids anyway [:)])
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I sometimes wonder whether one can develop a dependence on caffeine which means they are intrinsically more tired all the time, and drinking coffee just brings them back to a "normal" level of background tiredness.
Yes, I think that is a major component of caffeine addiction. That once addicted, one is no more alert than if a person wasn't addicted. Just one has to have the coffee boost to get back to normal.
Add a little sleep deprivation, and the coffee may be counterproductive.
I have been mostly off of coffee & caffeine for quite some time. But, there seems to remain a little bit of "brain fuzz" that I don't think was there before I first got addicted to coffee.
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I can't drink coffee. If i do drink, i need only one cup and my body crashes. First of all, it causes emptying my bowel, and secondly, i want to sleep. I remember i have had days in my past that coffee have made me more alert but thats years ago. I actually stopped to drink coffee for years and now tried to start it again - i couldn't - i can't see any positive effect in it. I could drink cup of coffee in the evening and go to sleep. Perhaps it is adrenal system and cortisol which are going over.
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I have this problem sometimes, not all the time. I drink about 2 cups of coffee a day, generally in the morning, but some mornings almost as soon as I have drunk my cup of coffee (ie within half and hour and often before I have finished the cup) I feel an overwhelming tiredness - my eyes get really droopy feeling, my body feels really heavy and I feel like I can barely function...
Its strange because its not everytime, I have also had the experience where after a strong cup of coffee I am bouncing off the walls... so its NOT because I'm a person whom caffeine doesn't affect at all.
I'm still trying to find out why!
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Nice to see this topic being discussed.
I too find coffee makes me sleepy. I've never had any sort of 'high' or increased alertness from it.
It's not that I'm addicted - I often rarely drink it. But when I do, I get sleepy.
This was most noticeable when I tried caffeine tablets one day, to keep myself awake in work. On taking them, they had no effect, but a few hours later, I was more tired than ever, and could hardly seem to keep awake, so the 'warm drink' affect doesn't seem to be applicable either.
I've heard it suggested that I may be slightly allergic to caffeine, and that the response is therefore a typical response when the body is trying to deal with toxins.
Any thoughts on this?
Cheers,
Jamie
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Yes I too get tired when I drink coffee. Almost instantly, I am new to coffee so it bring a habit before bed can be ruled out.
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Theobromine may be the culprit as a vasodilator. Caffeine is broken down and metabolised by the liver into theobromine, paraxanthene and theophylline. This may ultimately have to do with how well caffeine is metabolised by the body.
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I drink coffee from the time I wake up untill I fall asleep at night. It makes me so sleepy I start yawning while I'm drinking it and I get my normal 7 hours or more of sleep. I just assumed it had the opposite effect on me because of how much I drink it. (7-10 cups normally per day )
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For me when I drink coffee. It also makes me sleepy. I don't get boost what so ever. I mean after drinking it the next 20 to 30 mins i am struggling to stay awake. I am a medical student so I assumed that maybe it was just me being too sleep deprived and the dosage wasn't strong enough.
So after exam period when I got some rest my friends and I decided to try it out. So i took some when I wasn't sleepy and it wasn't even near the time I usually go bed. It was approx. 6:30 pm and i usually go bed after 2 or so in the morning. Taking it at 6:30, i fell asleep near 7:00 pm
I don't know why it is having this affect on me, but this wasn't always the case. In the past like earlier last year it did its job and perk me up.
Maybe my body has developed some tolerance to it, receptors to caffeine might have become less sensitive. If that is the case though, i would expect that coffee would just then dont have any effect on me. Surprisingly it flipped the scale and went from perking me up to the opposite, making me sleepy.
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Interesting discussion. I occasionally have a cup of coffee, mostly just because I like the taste, and often feel myself sleepier than before I had had it. And I'm talking one cup. In the morning. Not sure if it's some kind of placebo effect or if other factors around me are actually what's causing me to become tired. The only thing coffee does seem to do for me is make me pee a lot. Then again, several things that affect most people don't affect me... Vitamin B12? Nah. I suppose I'm just not sensitive like that.
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If I am drinking instant coffee I seem to perk up, but for example if I drink instant when I am sleep deprived I'll perk up, but then a few hours later I'll feel more tired than I think I would have otherwise. However - if I make Stove-top Italian 'espresso' coffee that can perk me up like almost instantly for about an hour - quiet extremely so, I get touch hyper and giggly and in a general good mood, then after the hour is up I'll feel sleepy, but the good mood seem to retain. Which is nice. I think this especially true at night, however I try to avoid drinking coffee 3 hours before bed. Doesn't Coffee give you a seratonin boost? I am really no expert in these matters, but doesn't your brain convert Seratonin into melatonin when the body clock tells it too? If you have extra serotonin, I imagine that melatonin is more readily available? So you feel sleepier? Just a guess.
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I too get tired and sleepy after minutes of drinking coffee. I don't drink coffee often, only when I feel the need to like when I need to study for an exam or when I wasn't able to sleep. I find that within 2 hours or possibly less than an hour, my eyes would feel really heavy and instead of feeling pumped to do some tasks, I would be nodding my head off while studying, for example. Even if I drink 2 glasses with good amount of coffee (I try to put a tbsp or a bit more to perhaps counteract the sleepiness & lots of sugar for added energy ), it still makes me sleepy. There was one or two times though, that I would feel really sleepy first ( or take a nap less than half an hour) then after that, I'm gonna be awake and focused on studying. Otherwise, I would call it a night and forget studies!
And, this only happens when I drink coffee. I don't feel sleepy when I drink other hot substances such as hot choco or tea. Also, when it's not summer break I usually get less than 7 or 6 hours of sleep. Sleep deprived ?
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Ive always felt extremely sleepy within 30 mins after drinking a cup of coffee. I started drinking it in university when I wanted to stay up late, but it only put me out. I feel like my vrain just shuts down and my body is heavy with sleep. I'm only 26 and I love to drink coffee, but it still puts me out quick!
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Hi.. I have the same issue about coffee.. But in my case I feel so tired and sleepy right after a few sip.. i can't even finish a cup. I would start to yawn and my eyes would be watery from feeling so sleepy. The weird part is I tried drinking instant coffee and I don't feel sleepy. Tried drinking starbucks frap or any brewed coffee and I'd instantly feel like crap.
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I too feel sleepy after drinking coffee
i only drink it when i cannot fall asleep
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Happens to me too. I drink coffee to wake up with my two and a half yr old. at first I'm awake buthcrash because im awake and playing with my daugter doing chores running errans.
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Ditto. I realized this years ago when I worked odd hours and then again in many years of school. Every time I drink coffee, regardless of the time of day I get drowsy. My mother has had at least three cups a day for years and likewise for my father. However, for me it just makes me want to fall asleep. I even tried drinking it in the mornings consistently for a few weeks. As soon as I stopped drinking it I realized I wasn't as tired. I assumed I was alone, crazy and it was some paradoxical effect. Nice to know I am not alone!
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It's not just coffee for me. Anything with caffiene in it makes me drowsy and not in and hour or two but like 10 minutes or so
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This happens to me at times. I dont coffee very often. I usally use tea as I think a caffiene overdose makes me more tired whislt a small amount (like tea) helps me get through incredibly boring tasts without the fatigue afterwards
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I take a nap nearly every morning after a cup of coffee. Don't have a clue why. If I get up out of bed I may not nap but I will still get drowsy.
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I'm one of those people that immediately wants to sleep after drinking coffee. I've never felt any sort of caffeine 'high' or alertness after consumption. Not even from my first cup, ever. Sometimes I end up drinking two cups and can't keep my eyes open within 20mins of beginning the drink. Not sure why..
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I have always felt sleepy and more tired after consuming caffeine, no matter if it's in coffee or energy drinks.
I seem to get the feeling that I can relax more easily with caffeine and therefor get sleepy.
When I can't sleep I take 3 double expressos or something like a gult shot and 2 Redbulls.
I've never had a suger rush either.
My theory is a natural need for stimulation, that when caffeine gets the synapses busy, The natural need for stimulation is fufilled and this inner disturbance is satisfied and the Boyd is therefor able to relax more.
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I definitely feel sleepy right after I drink coffee, but I also have this feeling whenever I consume any type of really warm liquid. It doesn't matter if it's warm milk, herbal tea, green tea, black tea, cocoa, soup or plain hot water but warm things make me sleepy.
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When I drink coffee I feel sleepy straight away unless it's caffeine free why is this
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Usually people with ADHD get tired with caffeine. I'm one of those people. I have to avoid drinking caffeine before I drive, or I will doze off behind the wheel. It's so frustrating! There are no stimulants I can take to help me stay awake, ever.
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Usually people with ADHD get tired with caffeine. I'm one of those people. I have to avoid drinking caffeine before I drive, or I will doze off behind the wheel. It's so frustrating! There are no stimulants I can take to help me stay awake, ever.
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At work feeling fine. I thought a cup of coffee might perk me up, give a little motivation. By the time I got to the bottom of a cup of strong black coffee, I could barely keep my eyes opened. Repeated the experiment. Same results. Tried it in the morning on my day off. Second cup causes drowsiness. I used to be a 2 pot a day drinker, but cut way down over the years due to decreasing quality and increasing prices.
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My roommate drinks coffee and then falls asleep instantly in the mornings. Caffeine seems to have the reverse effect on them. I drink coke to wake up. We both go to bed at the same time every night (my meds require it) and get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. They still have to take a nap every morning and nothing's helping.
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hey when ever i drink a coffee or energy drink in about 5-10 min i get rather sleepy from it and it does not wake me up in the slightest :( would any of you know what that is?
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4 hours? whao!!!
I think I am like this gentleman or worse, although I sleep very easily (I don't turn around in bed for hours before falling asleep), I think coffee has a sleeping pills effect on me. I even tried double espresso once but sometimes I am nodding my head as soon as I finish the coffee. May be we are special :)
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I have to take a caffeine tablet everyday. Within about 15 minutes after taking it I feel totally wiped out and exhausted, no matter what time of day I take it. This usually lasts about 3-4 hours and then I'm able to move on with my day. It's not good. It's not a spike, it's an instant crash. I do the same thing watching action movies! The more action the sleepier I get! I ALWAYS fall asleep during action flicks and usually right when the hardcore stuff starts rolling. My sister is the same way. Anyone have an explanation for me?
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Stimulants have different effects on ADD and ADHD sufferers. Personally, when I take stimulants, I feel calm and centered. This is true for caffeine, most energy drinks, the occasional dabble into cocaine. If you combine that feeling with a bit of sleep deprivation (also a common side effect of ADD) and a belly full of warm liquid, and sleep is right around the corner. I've fallen asleep in my chair at the coffee shop more than once.
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I get very sleepy when I drink coffee at any time of day.
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Hello, I actually have this same issue no matter the time of day if I drink coffee I suddenly get the overwhelming urge to just take a nap. I've found that this happens, to me anyway, because it's warm. The warmth I get from a fresh cup of coffee relaxes me and makes me comfortable enough that I want to rest. I've tested this with ice coffee, hot tea, and ice tea. The cold beverage wakes me up more even if the tea had no caffeine. The hot tea, like the coffee, made me want to sleep.
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I drink coffee and immediately get tired. Same with onions. I eat them and they make me tired right away
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I don't drink coffee often, maybe once a week, but when I do it can put me right to sleep! I start feeling very tired even before I'm finished my drink! I've always wondered why. Any ideas?
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I am not a big coffee or caffeine drinker. I'll have a cup of coffee a few times a week or if I'm working swing shift. About 10 minutes after I have a cup of coffee, my body instantly feels weak and my eyes start to droop. Every time I have any sort of caffeine this happens. I don't know why I still drink coffee, it tastes good to me, but my body has weird affects with it. It doesn't wake me up. So if I can't fall asleep at night I instantly go for a cup of coffee.
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Coffee relaxes me, drops my blood pressure (measured/confirmed by MD ), and can make me fall asleep within 30 mins or less after consuming it. I'd also like to understand why. This happens Even if I'm well -rested.
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I immediately feel increasingly tired after drinking caffiene. I recently got back from a road trip where I consumed copious amounts of coffee and Red Bull and then fell promptly asleep, which was not good for driving. I guess in some people it just has opposite effects.
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I also drink coffee very rarely, mainly because I dislike the taste of all except the Mocha flavours but I do regularly take caffeine pills known as Pro Plus. My Sleep pattern is sporadic but I also function a lot better on 4-5 hours sleep than I do on 6-8 and I also have a very high metabolism. I to feel extremely sleepy within 30 mins of drinking even the exceptionally strong coffee
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I think there may be something to how coffee reacts with ADD brain wiring. I was not diagnosed ADHD, so, dont have the hyper issue being thrown in reverse by a stimulant. I too get very drowsy while drinking coffee. Less often, I might get a short and very temporary boost, followed by the drowsiness. I have dozed off at my desk at work for a few seconds while consciously fighting to stay awake. This after drinking 2 to 4 cups of coffee each morning. The other benefits I see mentioned, that includes intestinal regularity, I have experienced as well. It also helps clear my throat in the AM from allergy generated sinus drainage. Geez, it is complex!
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I have recently started having coffee as my exams are going on.. It makes me sleepy. :( before i used to having tea when needed,but same result.. It made me sleepy in place of waking me up..
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Oddly enough; I frequently drink multiple shots of espresso etc prior to meals to stimulate my digestion which it seems to help. But when I drink coffee or tea in the evening or at night it also makes me drowsy and does not negatively affect my sleep.
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I found this article because I wondered why the drowsy effect of coffee was so instantaneous and like clockwork for me. It happens 10 to 20 minutes after I drink it. I even had a micro sleep just now, sitting up with my eyes open, shortly after drinking a cup. Before this, I was wide awake and full of energy. I just wanted to drink the coffee for its taste. Other hot drinks and instant coffee DO NOT do this to me, it's specifically plunger coffee or espresso. I have also had paradoxical reactions to other substances, such as a sleeping pill gave me insomnia, it was impossible to sleep for hours, and tequila acts as a stimulant but other spirits are a depressant.
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I too suffer from this, I can drink 2-3 cups of coffee and fall into a deep sleep within minutes. Seems to have the opposite effect on me!
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I also suffer from this problem. I've read that coffee makes you pee a lot, which makes you dehydrated, your blood thickens, causing you to feel fatigued and fall asleep. Hope this helps!
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I drink rockstar blueberry high caffeine energy drinks and even while drinking them I fall asleep I sleep minimum 9 hours a night and usually get really tired and nap a couple hours in afternoon
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I had a professor that told me once that getting sleepy after drinking caffeine is a possible sign of a rare form of diabetes. (She had that form of diabetes)
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Coffee makes me sleepy too and the days I have less I am much more alert.
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I don't drink coffee at all generally, but if on the rare occaison I do, I start immediately feeling drowsy and need to sleep This has always been the case with me I always thought my body/brain was wired differently
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I can drink coffee and immediately feel sleepy.
In fact its 12:57 a.m.
I have a flavored 16 oz cappuccino with three little shots which are supposed to each equal one shot of espresso (*each*.... and there are three in this cup)
And i am falling asleep -hence me finding this through a google search.
-lizz-
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I drink 1-2 mugs of coffee every morning, and I have been doing that since High School.
But I never drank it for the caffeine or for waking me up, I drank it for the sweet taste of coffee with sweetened liquid creamer. On the infrequent chance that I brew an additional pot of coffee (2 more mugs) for an afternoon drink I feel sleepy. And I only feel sleepy when in the afternoon. Even rarer is if I choose to drink coffee at night (say I'm out with friends or studying in the library or a coffee shop), it has no effect on me and it does not affect my sleep and I do not experience any caffeine crashes. I drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep hydrated and at meals, I drink one glass of fruit juice and then the rest are glasses of water. But if I miss my morning coffee I feel no symptoms of withdraw or headaches.
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I drink 1-2 mugs of coffee every morning, and I have been doing that since High School.
But I never drank it for the caffeine or for waking me up, I drank it for the sweet taste of coffee with sweetened liquid creamer. On the infrequent chance that I brew an additional pot of coffee (2 more mugs) for an afternoon drink I feel sleepy. And I only feel sleepy when in the afternoon. Even rarer is if I choose to drink coffee at night (say I'm out with friends or studying in the library or a coffee shop), it has no effect on me and it does not affect my sleep and I do not experience any caffeine crashes. I drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep hydrated and at meals, I drink one glass of fruit juice and then the rest are glasses of water. But if I miss my morning coffee I feel no symptoms of withdraw or headaches.
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ADD & ADHD
If it makes you drowsy almost immediately it is not a crash or anything similar. Those who mentioned ADD and ADHD are correct. Stimulants all effect ADD and ADHD including caffeine. Drinking something with caffeine can focus and calm those with the conditions, even aiding in sleep. University studies have shown caffeine may be a viable option in replacing heavy stimulants like Methylphenidate in children and adults with ADD and ADHD.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/caffeines-effect-on-adhd-symptoms/0003050
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I fall sleepy immediately with coffee. I find it helps me concentrate on sleeping and eliminates my rapid random thoughts that tend to keep me awake.
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It seems there are so many of us that have this problem that the Naked Scientist's responses seem quite naive. It just shows the complexity and variety present in the human population. I am exactly the same as Angie, I can often have a cup of coffee and be bouncing off the walls, on other occasions I literally need to nap for a couple of hours afterwards (the drowsiness sets in within around 5-10 mins of drinking the coffee). Luckily it's a Saturday today (after the drowsiness set in) so I was able to have a sleep after my coffee. I drink one cup of coffee everyday after breakfast.
A strange phenomenon, but glad to hear there are others who have this problem, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it one day!
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I drink coffee and feel tired. My mum always drank tea and I had that when I was little. But even hot chocolate keeps me awake. It's as if my system is backwards lol x
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I drink monster energy drinks and I'm still tired while and after drinking them. Energy supplements don't work for me at all, but i still drink them for the taste.
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I actually have experienced getting tired after drinking a cup of coffee. Usually within 1-2 hrs after.
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As soon as i drink coffee i feel very sleepy. I like my coffee dark and two spoons of sugar.
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For me, if I drink a couple cups in the morning I will feel like I took a sleeping pill. I feel extremely drousy. I have had feelings of being so relaxed that I feel like I am sinking in my chair. Rather odd.. However, if I am driving and I feel drousy, a cup of coffee helps.
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interesting thread. i skimmed the thread and all i seen were negative reportings.
for me not all coffee type/brand do this. but interestingly some instant brands do this. i had some that were useless and bad after i eat. made me so sleepy i couldn't do any work and just sleep for a long time. something was were wrong with brands that did that. chalk it up to the way they were made. and some instant made me feel just weird so yea useless.
but strangely years back "folgers instant " had this super buzz, made me creative like a super computer. found nothing else like that, duno what their secret was but the brand did go bad later on.
and brew coffee brands i tried all vary in buzz, some made me sleepy, some not so good. so i wouldn't say they all made me sleepy but i don't know how they can all vary so much in effect.
so i don't get it.... [???]
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interesting thread. i skimmed the thread and all i seen were negative reportings.
for me not all coffee type/brand do this. but interestingly some instant brands do this. i had some that were useless and bad after i eat. made me so sleepy i couldn't do any work and just sleep for a long time. something was were wrong with brands that did that. chalk it up to the way they were made. and some instant made me feel just weird so yea useless.
but strangely years back "folgers instant " had this super buzz, made me creative like a super computer. found nothing else like that, duno what their secret was but the brand did go bad later on.
and brew coffee brands i tried all vary in buzz, some made me sleepy, some not so good. so i wouldn't say they all made me sleepy but i don't know how they can all vary so much in effect.
so i don't get it.... [???]
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I'm not an avid cofee drinker. But lately the only way I can fall asleep is by drinking one cup of cofee. I don't get it.
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Water intoxication makes one feel mighty sleepy. That is because the red blood cells get so spread out that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells as efficiently. If you feel sleepy after one or two cups of coffee, it might not be the coffee your body is responding to. It might be the water in the coffee. Try drinking sixteen ounces of water before your first five ounce cup of coffee in the morning. If you are too tired to drink the coffee afterward, you have proven my theory. You should try to drink the water more slowly, so your body can adjust to the blood volume. Then have your coffee; it should do what you expect, since you have already hydrated. Or, if you like, try cold coffee instead of hot. It will not help you with hydration. But, since cold liquids go through the digestive system more than into the blood, you will not have a period of adjusting to the increase in blood volume.
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Water intoxication makes one feel mighty sleepy. That is because the red blood cells get so spread out that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells as efficiently. If you feel sleepy after one or two cups of coffee, it might not be the coffee your body is responding to. It might be the water in the coffee. Try drinking sixteen ounces of water before your first five ounce cup of coffee in the morning. If you are too tired to drink the coffee afterward, you have proven my theory. You should try to drink the water more slowly, so your body can adjust to the blood volume. Then have your coffee; it should do what you expect, since you have already hydrated. Or, if you like, try cold coffee instead of hot. It will not help you with hydration. But, since cold liquids go through the digestive system more than into the blood, you will not have a period of adjusting to the increase in blood volume.
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Water intoxication makes one feel mighty sleepy. That is because the red blood cells get so spread out that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells as efficiently. If you feel sleepy after one or two cups of coffee, it might not be the coffee your body is responding to. It might be the water in the coffee. Try drinking sixteen ounces of water before your first five ounce cup of coffee in the morning. If you are too tired to drink the coffee afterward, you have proven my theory. You should try to drink the water more slowly, so your body can adjust to the blood volume. Then have your coffee; it should do what you expect, since you have already hydrated. Or, if you like, try cold coffee instead of hot. It will not help you with hydration. But, since cold liquids go through the digestive system more than into the blood, you will not have a period of adjusting to the increase in blood volume.
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Water intoxication makes one feel mighty sleepy. That is because the red blood cells get so spread out that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells as efficiently. If you feel sleepy after one or two cups of coffee, it might not be the coffee your body is responding to. It might be the water in the coffee. Try drinking sixteen ounces of water before your first five ounce cup of coffee in the morning. If you are too tired to drink the coffee afterward, you have proven my theory. You should try to drink the water more slowly, so your body can adjust to the blood volume. Then have your coffee; it should do what you expect, since you have already hydrated. Or, if you like, try cold coffee instead of hot. It will not help you with hydration. But, since cold liquids go through the digestive system more than into the blood, you will not have a period of adjusting to the increase in blood volume.
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Water intoxication makes one feel mighty sleepy. It is merely a sudden drastic change in blood volume. And the red blood cells get so spread out that they cannot carry oxygen to the cells as efficiently. If you feel sleepy after one or two cups of coffee, it might not be the coffee your body is responding to. It might be the water in the coffee. Try drinking sixteen ounces of plain water before your first five ounce cup of coffee in the morning. If you are too tired to drink the coffee afterward, you have proven my theory. You should try to drink the water more slowly next time, so your body can adjust to the blood volume. Then have your coffee; it should do what you expect, since you have already hydrated. Or, if you like, try cold coffee instead of hot. It will not help you with hydration. But, since cold liquids go through the digestive system more than into the blood, you will not have a period of adjusting to the increase in blood volume. And you'll still get caffeine into your body. Moderator please delete this sentence and remove redundant posts of this reply- I'm sorry.
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If I don't get enough sleep, shortly after drinking coffee I will get in a somnambulant haze. I feel like I'm hypnotized and have no energy and feel very lethargic. I recently read something about drinking coffee when your dehydrated can cause further dehydration which can lead to fatigue. Since this usually happens to me first thing in the morning this might be the cause.
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If I don't get enough sleep, shortly after drinking coffee I will get in a somnambulant haze. I feel like I'm hypnotized and have no energy and feel very lethargic. I recently read something about drinking coffee when your dehydrated can cause further dehydration which can lead to fatigue. Since this usually happens to me first thing in the morning this might be the cause.
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I'm always get this - in fact I dont know why I keep drinking the stuff, all it does is make me yawn. Though, if I'm honest, I wouldnt say it makes me sleepy, it just makes me yawn and makes my eyes water, which I misinterpret as sleepiness (though when I think about it I actually feel awake). Could it be that it redced oxygen intake, thus creating side effects that could be associated with sleepiness?
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Dammit, all articles I've read are about how coffee makes you sleepy way after drinking it. My case is that it makes me sleepy almost immediately after drinking it. Say ten to twenty minutes after I finish a cup of coffee. I want to know why!
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Coffee makes me sleepy. It certainly does not wake me up, or give me a buzz. I never drank coffee until my thirties. Could it be that as it's high in magnesium, and magnesium relaxes muscles and aids sleep??? Perhaps for some, caffeine doesn't work but the magnesium effect does? Just a thought!
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True
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True enough!
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Lately I've been feeling sleepy 30 mins after drinking coffee.this is in the morning of course. I'm not sure what the reason could be, maybe the brand of coffee? Has anyone else experienced this
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I feel extremely tired as soon as I finish a energy drink, to the point of nodding out. But other times I am wired.
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I feel extremely tired as soon as I finish a energy drink, to the point of nodding out. But other times I am wired.
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I have been having the same problem for years. Even a 1/4 cup of coffee was making me pee a lot and then my eyes would get so tired. I finally figured out the problem. The coffee has been dehydrating me. Perhaps the same reason it can lower blood pressure because it is a diuretic. I found that I am able to drink coffee now if I eat something salty with it, like olives, and drink plenty of water.
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I have one cup per day and start to feel drowsy before I am even finished the cup. And to think I used to drink coffee to stay awake while driving when I was young but never seemed to work for me!
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Relieved to know I'm not the only one!
I've always been wondering why everyone drinks coffee and gets a kick from it, whereas when I drink it I immediately get drowsy. Yawning, teary eyes and starts to nod off. This happens minutes after I start drinking the stuff. If I'm tired at the office drinking coffee is guaranteed to make me nod off. This does not happen with tea or other hot beverages.
I have a theory that this comes from long and boring classes at university where I used to sip up to 3 cups of coffe in class order to get throught the 3-4 hour classes we had, thus my body associates drinking coffe with boredom and sleepines, therefore making me drowsy.
Plausible?
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My theory is that since caffeine is a diuretic and removes 2 cups of water from your body for every 1 cup consumed, the fatigue is caused by dehydration, at least in part (the ADD/ADHD connection seems bona fide, also). If you don't hydrate right away in the morning, considering you've not likely drank any fluids during your normal span of sleeping, you've gone that many hours straight with no fluid intake, which means you're likely dehydrated. Due to medication and a fast metabolism, I'm often dehydrated to some degree if I'm not regularly drinking water, and it makes me quite sleepy. Dehydration also causes constipation - another factor which can cause fatigue. I'm not a scientist or physician; I can only speak from my own experience. My suggestion: if you make your own coffee, drink a glass of water while you wait for the brew to finish. Hydrate first, then caffeinate. See if it helps.
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I was coffee-dependant from the age of 8 (I started drinking it when I was 7) to the age of 15 when I cut it cold-turkey to see if it helped improve my insomnia. I can't remember if it did make much of a difference aside from messing me up for a couple weeks from withdrawal, but it's been over 2 years and my memory is crappy.
I never got back into it because after not drinking it for a year I found if I had a large cup it'd make my anxiety spike and give me headaches.
Once in a while, though, I do have about half a cup of coffee to try to wake myself up, but I have found that within 10 minutes of drinking it I actually feel MORE sleepy. (With my insomnia since I was young I always feel tired, but rarely sleepy. So it's odd for anything to make me feel like going to bed and passing out.)
My point is, I actually do feel sleepy very soon after having a glass of coffee.
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Yes I'm one of these people, I googled this topic when sitting in an airport as I am now feeling moderately sleepy after drinking a coffee about 10 minuets earlier. To answer some other questions, I don't drink coffee often; maybe every couple of days but I can feel tired like immediately after, like go to sleep after
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if I drink coffee anytime after 3pm i start to drift off almost instantly if im comfortable, i can drink it in the morning and wake me up but in the afternoon i need to sleep almost straight after drinking it
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I've never been much of a coffee drinker, just cause I don't like the way it tastes, but I had some espresso beans in a cold drink recently and felt very tired and sleepy 15-20 minutes later, without any sort of spike im alertness as a result of the caffeine. This happens to my sister as well, is there a genetic explanation?
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Whenever I drink a cup of coffee, I feel sleepy and relaxed for a few minutes (sometimes half an hour), but then I'm wired. I rarely have more than one cup a day, so I have no chemical dependency. I also do not get quite the same effect from hot tea.
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I always drink (caffeinated!) coffee in the evenings. I'm a 20 year old, very active female. Everyone I know seems to be mind boggled by the fact that I drink it as a bedtime snack. I always sleep very well.
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well this might surprise many of you but I immediately feel sleepy after drinking coffee or eating too much sugary foods and I must confess, it stresses me a lot. I have never heard of such a thing in my life. I was actually researching why I feel sleepy after drinking coffee when I came across this discussion. I need help!
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I have this problem on occasion. I thought that maybe it was my brain not being able to tell the difference between adenosine and caffeine to such an extent that the reaction usually triggered by adenosine was triggered by the caffeine. Of course, I have next to zero experience with research on neurotransmitters, so I'm pulling this out of the air.
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I drink a widely varying amount of coffee each day. I would find that on days where I drank more coffee, I would actually feel more tired, but I never really thought about it - coffee is meant to have a wide range of positive health benefits, so I'd drink it anyway.
But lately, I've been cutting down - I didn't have any caffeine today until lunch time, when I had a large flat white. 10 minutes later, I'm yawning, wanting to put my head down, whereas I was fully alert beforehand, and that effect lasted at least two hours after I finished it. 3 hours later though, I was back to about the same level of alertness as I had been before I drank it.
Energy drinks don't seem to have the same effect, strangely enough. Perhaps there are other active compounds in the espresso that people usually ignore?
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Coffee has the complete opposite affect on me, I will fall asleep within 10 minutes, I would add half a packet of sweetner/none....
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What a crappy article.
I get tired shortly after drinking coffie, but never after drinking caffinated soft drinks.
And I drink quite an amount of cola.
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when I drink coffee as soon hit my system i start getting sleepy like i been drugged sometime i pass out before i ever finish my cup. i could be talking or out walking around I will pass out where ever
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I do get tired almost immediately after having coffee. I have adhd & have attributed it to that. What do you think? Hook me up to the brain thingy majigger!
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I too get very relaxed if I drink coffee at night. But if I drink it in the morning it does somewhat help me focus I wouldn't really say it wakes me up though.
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This has also been my experience with coffee. Waking up at 4:00am had become a regular problem. After a few months I finally gave in and said, what the heck, I may as well drink coffee and enjoy the time awake. And strangely I fell asleep about an hour later and had the best sleep ever. Now when I can't sleep I make a fresh pot of coffee and then fall asleep for hours.
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I'll wake up around 8 have my coffee and head back to bed. I don't feel the effects of coffee.
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I'll wake up around 8 have my coffee and head back to bed. I don't feel the effects of coffee.
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I can drink a pot of coffee, drink 2 extra strength energy drinks & IMEDIATELY fall asleep !! NOTHING WORKS !!! I'm sooooo tired of being tired all the time... Rarely do I ever feel 100% awake...
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Just Googled this page as I am sick of feeling very sleepy within 20 minutes of having a strong black coffee. I've not even eaten yet today, so it's strange. Anyhow, I've found nothing on the internet to explain this phenomenon so I'm going to take a nap.
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I dont drink coffee but when i do it males me sleep like a baby. Any exsplinatiom for this??
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Coffee blocks iron absorption .
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I can be wide awake and drink a cup of coffee and immediately be tired and sluggish
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I'm one of the people who gets sleepy after coffee. Now that I work Noc shift, I don't feel so bad about drinking a small cup, and then getting 6 hours sleep. It still acts as a diuretic for me (thus ONLY 6 hours then pee like a race horse).
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Sorry, but this article fails to explain the issue. It often happens to me that I wake up feeling rested and then after my first few sips of the first coffee in the day, say around 7.30 am I feel suddenly tired and sleepy. Is this a sign that coffee is tiresome for the liver?
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I drink coffee and immediately feel very tired, my head gets stuffy and feel a buzzing feeling in my face around my sinus areas. From what I've managed to work out it can be the oil in coffee beans. Caffeine drinks wake me up.
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I'm am one of those rare/odd individuals that gets sleepy after consuming caffeine. I am and have never been a habitual consumer either. A cup of tea once or twice a week, coffee once in a blue moon (I probably cook with it more frequently than I drink it). I discovered this effect when I was about 10yrs old. I drank ~4-5 cups of coffee around 11am or so and about 15min later I was zonked out for a very nice nap as I recall haha. It has been that way ever since, which can be nice sometimes when i'm relaxing with a cup of tea.
From what I've found looking into this conundrum is that this rare effect is mainly/probably genetic. Some scientists discovered a breed/strain w/e of lab rat with a recessive gene (maybe a combination of multiple genes) that is totally immune to caffeine, and with some playing around with breeding these with others also found one that is subdued by caffeine. But, because of our limited knowledge of genetics (drop in the ocean really) we haven't yet identified the specific genes involved nor do we know how those genes create this effect or any other effects it/they might have on our bodies.
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Not always, but sometimes coffee nearly knocks me out! Within 1/2 hr of drinking a cup I can barely keep my eyes open. If I can snooze for 1/2 hr the effect seems to mostly wear off.
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I'm just like Matt. But i believe it is as Bill said, the association with routinely having it before laying down for need
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I have the same problem. I will drink a cappuccino, or a iced coffee and immediately feel sleepy. It's not a crash later, it's immediate. If i cut the coffee with a cream then i will get immediately drowsy.
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Hmm I also become sleepy a few minutes after drinking coffee, this has always been the case ever since I can remember so I don't think it's caffeine dependency. Maybe it's the genes, cause my mom is also like that.
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I'm 17 years old and doesn't drink coffee always but if there happens a time that I'm experiencing an insomnia, coffee always help me to sleep. Don't know why but I have read some comments and I think it enlightened my mind. Great discussion!
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Im kendra. Im 17 yrs old. And this is what happening to me as always. As a teen, i do always go to sleep so late. Sometimes i am still awake in the morning. I normally get uh 4-5 hrs sleep a day. Dont know how to start changing my body clock so it is. And as a student, i literally need to wake up sometimes as in wide awake the whole midnight until i travel home. And my problem is that, i drink coffee to help me keeping me awake, i mean thats what people say. Coffee keeps you alive. But why every time i drink coffee, i always feel more sleepy and more tired rather than feeling you know what i mean. I really dont get it. It seems impossible. But its actually not. I cant even fight my sleepiness and i wanna get rid of it because im waking up with no tasks accomplished. :(