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.)

I am profoundly disappointed, but not at all surprised, to find that this caffeine inhaler is not real. (Link from rani23.)

More subject lines from the spam folder:
"airborne pontiff"
"inalienable abdomen"
"rabbi bacon"
"Reply to your post..." (ok, where'd that come from? Not LJ!)

Did the misguided lawmakers responsible for the "can spam" law notice the two opposing (in this case) meanings of the word "can"? That is, "can it, i.e. contain it" versus "enable". The former is what they tried to sell; the latter is what we're getting.

grifyn posted some links to ThinkGeek. Not only do they have a product category for "caffeine - drinks" where you can find Buzz Water (100 mg per bottle), but you can also get regular automatic deliveries. Some of the offerings under "caffeine - accessories" are intriguing, but I am disappointed to learn that the energy gel does not in fact seem to convey caffeine topically the way you'd think from its placement in their catalogue. I don't need to be "energized" on Yom Kippur; I need caffeine to offset the headache. :-) (Yeah, I know there would be other halachic issues to investigate.)

While I'm talking about grifyn, this saga of the job hunt made me laugh.

Scholar-in-residence weekend this Shabbat, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. This should be quite nifty, and as a side effect, I don't have to cook for this Shabbat at all. Congregational meals can be quite convenient. :-) (Speaking of food, the day after the Purim gathering I realized why the balance of food on the table looked wrong, when I discovered the pasta salad I had deliberately made to use up chametz and then forgot to put out. Oops! I wonder how long pasta salad keeps; it's been refrigerated and there's no mayo involved, FWIW.)

It has been way too long since the last time I watched "Blake's 7". Yay for the new DVDs. I've only watched the first two episodes so far, but this is even better than I remembered. Cool.

I think I'll try an experiment and see if I can keep it down to a liter or so a day. (I already know that I can't eliminate it entirely.)

BTW, no, I did not break the fast with Diet Coke. The first liter of liquid was water and OJ. Then I drank the Diet Coke. :-)