There’s this website I’ve been reading often over the last few weeks. Over and over again it talks about foods that are really bad for your skin, caffeine being one of them. I have never been a big caffeine person (never got used to the taste of coffee, since I never wanted to be addicted to it), but lately I’ve started drinking black tea in the morning when I’m really tired. Since reading that site, though, I started paying more attention to the state of my skin. I have what I’ve privately begun calling “old skin”, skin that can’t seem to recover from anything as well as having quite a bit of ‘mild’ acne.
So I noticed that yes, when I don’t sleep at least 8 hours my acne is worse. On Monday, however, I went a step further and wondered whether this caffeine claim was correct, even the smaller amount of caffeine in black tea. Therefore, I decided on Tuesday I would not drink any black tea in the morning and see what happens.
As it worked out, I got about the same amount of sleep both nights—six hours. When I drank my black tea Monday morning I wasn’t thinking about doing an experiment on the effects of caffeine; rather, I was thinking more that everyone says that caffeine keeps you awake during the day, so hopefully it would help me stay awake after my mere six hours of sleep.
The rest of the day, quite frankly, sucked. I could hardly keep my eyes open during class. My brain felt like it was being sucked out of the back of my skull. I felt like I was radiating the aftertaste of black tea, like when I eat too much garlic and it comes out of my pores. And my skin—yeah. Definitely not spared the awful feeling. Very red and irritated. Definitely NOT a good health day.
You know what really sucked, though? I decided I felt this lack of sleep so badly I tried to take a nap in the afternoon, something I do rarely because I never fall asleep during the day (unless I’m sick) and I hardly am able to relax enough to just lay down for 20 minutes. Monday I wanted to try however, and I set my alarm for 20 minutes and climbed into bed. Four minutes later, I climbed out, too jittery to calm down and relax for twenty minutes. This was 4pm—I had had the tea at 7:30am!
It was probably around this time that I put two and two together and decided the next day I would go without tea in the morning to see what happened.
As it turns out, I couldn’t fall asleep again until later, so I probably slept the same amount Monday night (not enough). But no black tea for me. Instead I had some hot water sweetened with honey, since I wanted something hot to drink with breakfast and didn’t have herbal tea. I went to class. I felt a bit tired, but not crushingly weary. I was surprised at how good I felt.
And the rest of the day went like that. I could feel in the back of my mind some tiredness, but it was easy to push away to focus on what I was doing. I even attempted a nap in the afternoon—and it worked! I didn’t fall asleep but I laid down for twenty minutes, enough to calm down and feel refreshed afterward. Then I went out and played pool for a few hours and hung out with friends, always a bit tired but not so much that living was really hard.
So, the verdict? No more caffeine when I’m tired. I’ll drink black tea when I am fully awake and just want the taste, as I haven’t had such bad reactions when I do so. But I am done with drinking tea to “stay awake” when I haven’t had a full 7-8 hours of sleep. My body isn’t so weak as to need caffeine to stay awake on less sometimes.
Interesting experiment.
You conclusion is probably the healthiest approach to tea anyway, as you’ll be regarding it as a drink (something you want to taste) not a drug (something to cause certain effects-staying awake for one- on your body).
Interestingly enough, I think I’ve discovered the same thing. I had, at the beginning of the year, gone on a no-caffeine kick. I didn’t correlate it with how nice my skin was — I could go without makeup and look just fine. But since starting to drink caffeine again (I’m pretty much up to regular drinking), it’s been a whole lot blotchier and harder to maintain. Thanks for the post!
I still don’t get why that happened. I guess you’re probably just pretty sensitive to caffeine. Be careful from now on, but I guess you know that. :P
ps your letter came last night! That means it takes 6-7 days to get a letter from you. Email me your new address soon so I can send a reply! :D:D:D
Thanks for the post. I didn’t know about the caffeine/skin connection … one just slips into drinking too much caffeine in grad school (all the cool kids are doing it, after all) but it’s good to be reminded that it’s not necessarily the healthiest option. Hope you got more sleep!
A naturopathic nutritionist told me the liver has two phases when it processes chemicals like caffeine. if the liver is working really well, the first phase will take a long time , during which you will continue to feel the effects of the caffeine. If it passes without a prolonged effect it indicates that the first phase of your liver’s processing is quick and as a result less thorough.
She also told me that proper hydration is critical to feeling and staying well and energetic as well as to healthy skin. Caffeinated beverages are a diruetic and drain water from your body so for every ounce of caffeinated beverage you drink, you should have two ounces of water just to replace what the caffeine has taken out.. Plus while you’re drinking coffee you’re likely not drinking water so it really makes it difficult to maintain hydration.
Knowing all this though I must admit I drink 3 cups of black coffee every morning before 8:00 a.m.
That’s very interesting… Especially the fact that your body reacted to it differently. I’ve been caffeine dependent for TOO long but I’ve decided that for Lent (not for religious purposes but just as a challenge to myself), I’m giving up coffee (which I drink everyday and is my main source of caffeine) and energy drinks.
I’m still getting used to not taking anything to keep me awake in the morning but I’ve been sleeping more because my body needs it more now. But it’s nice that I no longer crash in the afternoon when the caffeine wears off. I think I’m going to start paying more attention to my skin now too. Thanks for sharing :)