Today makes three decaffeinated weeks. Well, besides two Cokes (one in
a restaurant, the other on Sunday with lunch). I can’t say that I’ve
noticed a remarkable pickup in my productivity, but neither have I melted into a
Caffeine Free puddle of lethargic goop, so that’s promising. I suppose it
helps that I’ve been exercising, too, steadily aching through
Power 90 six days a week and playing ball when I can catch a break around
classes and reading. Basketball didn’t go well last week (felt like a
benchwarmer for the Atlanta Hawks bumbling around out there), but the P-90
program worked miracles when I kept at it for four months back in ’02. Now
it’s are-there-any-muscles-left? overdue. Also, with the exercise,
I sleep soundly. At the rate I was going last semester, I would have
required vice grips to close my eyelids at night. Rest, intermitzzz.
Forget cliches about burning the candle; I was so juiced on caffeine some days
that I was burning…I don’t know. Something. But I’m back now.
If the blog goes dull or altogether blanks out for weeks at a time, I think I’ve
got a danm good excuse.
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It’s odd how you and I sometimes go on these same jags. I’m not entirely decaffeinated, but I’m down to one cup of black tea a day, and somedays I forget to drink it. Since I was formerly a daily diet Coke person, I think this is a triumph.
Caffeine sneaks up on me. Next thing I know, I’m unsuspectingly in its clutches, constantly craving afternoon and evening sustenance. And if I miss, along come the headaches. I’ve never gone far past two coffees in the morning and a Coke in the afternoon, but that was enough to leave me edgy, interfere with good sleep, and leave me feeling like overtired crapola in the morning.
And (whether this explains our coincidental caffeine rhythms, I don’t know) it probably has a lot to do with the grad school experience, the abundance of reading to work through, the challenges of taking care of a body throughout, variation in schedules from semester to semester, anxiety, the wish for a steadied keel, and so on.
Yeah, I was considering writing about what coursework does to your health. Back in September I looked around the room at the rest of the folks I had come in with, remembered what we had looked like the previous September, and thought “Well, at least we’re all wearing pretty evenly.” Obviously a lot more caffeine consumption and smoking going on. More pounds, more bags and circles under eyes, more grey in the hair. But maybe quite a bit smarter, too. (Or at least better read.)
Better read, for sure. I can’t say I’ve been very observant of the health of others in coursework here, but a few of us (well me, at least) do have an ongoing peeve about being asked whether we’re tired. The “Oh you look so tired” line. Thing is, even when I’m not tired, I wear the worn-down look because I compromised morning grooming routines for an extra half-hour of sleep.