Back in February, I stopped drinking caffeine habitually.(As this is 2020, it feels like years ago, now.)

I kind of fell into it by accident. Once I realized I’d stopped, I made the choice to keep at it. It was a really smart decision on my part. There are so many things I already must do to keep myself healthy. Removing my dependence on caffeine lessened some of the complication of my life.

That is not to say that I never take caffeine at this point. Oh, hell no. I now use caffeine medicinally.

I love my occasional hits of caffeine. I probably take it once or twice a week. When I’ve had a particularly bad night, caffeine in the morning really helps wake me up. It helps me focus.

Sometimes.

And this is the rub. I have, let’s just say, some awkward body chemistry.

Most of the time when I take a hit of caffeine, it works as a stimulant.

Some of the time, though, it works as a soporific.

I use that word very specifically.

Caffeine doesn’t relax me. It sometimes put me to sleep.

I will take some caffeine, then find I cannot keep my eyes open. I must lay down for a while. I will sleep the sleep of the dead – not turn over or move – for anywhere between thirty to ninety minutes. Most of the time, I’ll wake up refreshed, though sometimes I’ll stay sleepy for much of the day.

This is not a recent occurrence. I’ve always had one or the other reaction to caffeine. For most of my life, it only occurred 1-2% of the time I was taking caffeine daily.

For the last few years, and this was before I quit taking caffeine habitually, that percentage grew to about 10%. I was tracking this monthly, and it was generally three or four days a month that caffeine would put me to sleep.

I find that I’m more likely to feel as though caffeine is a soporific on a meh day, when my body chemistry is already messed up. That isn’t always the case, though. Sometimes I feel fine and yet I go to sleep.

I’m not sure I have any conclusions about this. As I work from home, the occasional morning nap isn’t a problem. Plus generally, I’ll function better afterward.

So what about you? Do you have weird reactions to caffeine?