blogosphere: Which Came First Caffeine Or Insomnia?

To the amateur, who has barely spent a handful of nights red-eyed, restless-legged, full-headed, trying to grab even a few minutes of sleep before the alarm goes off and tells that you have to get up for work, the presence of coffee in an insomniac\’s life may be something of a puzzle. They would turn to you and say – in a very smug voice – but of course you cannot sleep if you ingest coffee — not only is it a stimulant but it is also a diuretic.

These observations about the properties of coffee are indeed correct, but what they are misunderstanding is the role of said beverage in the life of a career bad-sleeper.

I know that I can only sleep for four hours between two certain temporal goalposts and that trying to sleep at any other time is going to be a pointless exercise that will result in me getting no sleep at all. Occasionally the lack of sleep will catch up with you and you will feel like a bag of hammered shit — this is why I drink coffee: if I am going to be awake (and I know I am going to be awake) I may as well at least feel human while I am doing it.

I was an insomniac long before I started drinking coffee. Read The Devil\’s Cup and you will find out how great an influence on development a cup of coffee can be. Bad sleep is very rarely a great influence, unless you are working on a magnum opus about insomnia.

—————-
Now playing: Morrissey – Ouija Board, Ouija Board
via FoxyTunes