hacking my body: study results

[cellio]

I drink quite a bit of caffeine, which poses a problem come Yom Kippur each year because of the 25-hour fast (food and drink). Every year I start ramping down the caffeine on Rosh Hashana (10 days earlier), try to reach zero caffeine the day before Yom Kippur, and soldier through. But I always get a caffeine headache anyway. Somebody once suggested that I needed to be at zero caffeine for more like three days, which I haven't managed to do yet. (Yes, I admit my substance addition. Moving on...)

Monday night we were wondering how quickly caffeine leaves the body anyway, and Dani found this article. Lookie here (emphasis mine):

The dosage of caffeine consumed can impact how long it stays in a person’s system. Someone who ingests low dose (especially relative to their body mass) should clear caffeine from their body quicker than someone who ingests a high dose. Though other factors play a prominent role in clearance, the body can only metabolize and excrete a set amount of caffeine at a time; if this threshold is exceeded – metabolism and clearance is compromised. [...]

A heavy caffeine consumer may ingest over 400 mg per day (equivalent to 4 cups of coffee). At this point, enzymes in the liver may be overtaxed and more caffeine (and its metabolites) may accumulate within the body. This accumulation may prevent efficient clearance and result in reabsorption, prolonging excretion times relative to dosage consumed.

Oh really? I had never considered the possibility that one could slow down caffeine loss by overloading. This, I decided, called for science.

Tuesday I drank three cups of coffee, about 12oz of iced tea (equivalent of two teabags), two cans of Coke Zero (Cherry, if we're being precise), about 12oz of apple cider, and about six cups of water. I ate as I normally do in advance of the fast. Then at dinner I had a glass of Coke Zero (maybe 8oz?), followed by a glass of orange juice and a glass of water.

This should be sounding alarm bells to most people experienced with Yom Kippur. All of this is in extreme contrast to the near-universal advice one hears about caffeine and fasting. Possibly that advice is geared more toward the folks who drink a couple cups of coffee a day; I don't know. Also, caffeine is a diuretic so I was concerned about thirst, even with all the water/juice.

But I am here to report that I did not get a caffeine headache today, and I didn't feel any more thirsty than I usually do. In fact, after some thirst pangs this morning, I pretty much didn't notice thirst for the rest of the day. (Also: yes, I slept as well as I usually do on Yom Kippur last night.)

Wow. It's only the one data point, so further research is called for, but initial research results show promise.

(Monday night we also discovered the existence of caffeine patches -- like those nicotine patches smokers wear, but for caffeine -- but there was no way to get some in time.)

Comments

[cjsherwood.livejournal.com]

This is fascinating and I'm very glad you got positive results! but not surprising to me... I had a friend who was literally poisoning herself to death with caffeine.... doctors ordered her off all of it because she was at toxic levels. She was really quite good about it for a handful of years and then started ordering things like "half caf" at Starbucks and now mostly drinks fully leaded. As far as I can tell, she's still drinking caffeine but at much reduced levels.... though I do wonder what it's doing to her blood pressure - which is quite elevated.

Thankfully, not my monkey not my circus! though your experience has me wondering if I should think more about how much caffeine I'm consuming these days!

And a happy and healthy new year to you!

[cellio]

Yikes. Fortunately my blood pressure is fine, and my doctor isn't concerned about my caffeine (though he suggests moving away from diet drinks to other forms).

And a happy and healthy new year to you!

Thank you! And to you as well.

[sethg]

FWIW my wife refuses to taper off caffeine before YK, on the grounds (ahem) that she only wants to suffer for one day.

[goljerp]

Joy and I have a friend who also does the "OD on Caffeine before Yom Kippur" thing. He said that it worked for him. Joy just goes cold turkey, and gets the headaches on YK. I am a rare coder who does not consume much caffeine on a regular basis, so I was just getting my normal "feeling yukky because fasting" experience.