A Therapeutic Shot

Although it's been several weeks now since I've imbibed coffee, I decided today to indulge in a cup again in an effort to reestablish a more regular sleep pattern. For some time now I've fallen into the habit of sleeping for about four hours during the day and another four hours at night. The two periods are widely separated. 

The problem has become more acute of late as I seemed to be sleeping far more than I should be. I woke up today about 1am and normally I would have slept or still be sleeping now at 2pm. Instead I decided to drink a cup of coffee in an effort to stimulate myself to stay awake until after dark. By the time the caffeine wears off, it will hopefully be around 7pm to 8pm and I can sleep for eight or so hours and get up around 3pm to 4pm.

Balzac's work habits were legendary. He wrote from 1 am to 8 am every morning and sometimes even longer. Balzac could write very rapidly; some of his novels, written with a quill, were composed at a pace equal to thirty words per minute on a modern typewriter. His preferred method was to eat a light meal at five or six in the afternoon, then sleep until midnight. He then rose and wrote for many hours, fueled by innumerable cups of black coffee. He often worked for fifteen hours or more at a stretch; he claimed to have once worked for 48 hours with only three hours of rest in the middle. Source.

That's the plan anyway. I can only wait and see what happens. So far the caffeine is kicking in and I'm feeling "stimulated". I'm ready to write that novel that everyone has inside of them. I can understand what propelled Balzac, an inveterate coffee addict, to write as prodigiously as he did. The danger is that I'll revert to my previous addiction, a problem with every addict. While I'm tempted to indulge in an early morning cup of coffee on a regular basis, I certainly won't go back to drinking tea for the remainder of the day as I used to do. I'll stick to water.

Health-wise I seem to be OK but I find myself thinking that every twinge or pang is the harbinger of my demise. It's remarkable that my body has held up for this long (almost 74 years). I was watching a video of a young woman living in a van who a couple of years before suffered some health crisis that required the removal of her entire large intestine. She needs to use a colostomy bag for the rest of her life. It made me realise how fortunate I was to have enjoyed good health for so long. My only health crisis occurred in late July of 2016 when I needed to have my gall bladder removed. Hopefully my next health crisis will be far off and will be my last. 

Overdoing It

After feeling quite fit and healthy following my caffeine abstinence, I embarked on some reasonably intensive physical activities around the house over a couple of days. I soon payed the price and I've been feeling poorly for a couple of days now. The discomfort in my chest has returned and my energy levels are low.

I can plead guilty to most of the above. I could see that cleaning needed to be done and I determined to do it but at what cost? It's disconcerting to find myself physically challenged by activities that a few years ago I would have completed with ease. Any intense activity involving the upper body will quickly lead to chest discomfort.

Abstaining from all upper body physical exertion however, is likely to lead to an acceleration of the inevitable age-related sarcopenia. While I need to be physically active and must remember not to overdo it.

Post Caffeine

It's been more than a couple of weeks now then I quit caffeine and I can say that I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm sleeping better, my head is clearer and I have more energy. With our maid gone, I'm finding that just doing chores around the house is sufficient exercise for me. Fortunately, our house has many steps and this is what makes the difference. I'm not roaming around on the one level but constanty climbing or descending. 

It was only a couple of days ago that I resumed my leg exercises after a break of a couple of months. I want to continue these. It was last night that I resumed my faux sit-ups but paid the price today with discomfort in my solar plexus area. Prior to this I'd been feeling very little discomfort. I'm debating whether to continue these or not. As usual I launched into the faux sit-ups at my pre-break levels, ignoring common sense that would have warned too much too quickly.

Normally I weigh myself before breakfast but today, even after eating a breakfast of two pieces of toast and two cups of water, I weighed just 72.5 kg which I'm happy about. Overall though, the increased feeling of well-being is more than adequate compensation for foregoing the stimulation of caffeine via tea and coffee. The world may still run on coffee but not my world. I'm finally free of it.