Andy’s story

It is the 28th of June, 6 PM, Andy is still busy compiling financial reports for many owners.

He has been working since 6 AM.

And he is exhausted.

He can’t concentrate anymore because he really needs a break.

He walks down the street and enters the convenience store on Queen street.

Going straight to the fridge, he grabs an energy drink and pays at the counter.

Then 

He goes back to the office and continues to work until 8 PM. 

By this time he feels suffocated and realises that the airconditioning system stops because it only operates on a timer, from 8 AM to 7 PM.

So he packs up and leaves the office.

He hops on the bus and falls asleep. 

Suddenly, he hears the driver’s voice “Excuse me; this is the last stop, you need to get off”. Andy wakes up. He has just overslept and missed his stop.

Now he is at the terminal, and it is 9 PM. He can’t be bothered to cross the street and wait for another bus. So he catches Uber.

When he arrives at home, he takes a shower, has a quick meal and goes to sleep.

But he feels restless because of the energy drinks he had earlier: one in the morning, one at lunch and one around 6.15 PM. He finds it is not comfortable to sleep because he also had a quick nap when he was on the bus. 

Also, he had many reports to do and his mind keep thinking about them.

Finally, around 3 AM, he is able to close his eyes.

At last, he can sleep.

But not for long

By 5 AM, the alarm rings, he wakes up and catches the bus to go to work. On his way, he grabs his usual energy drink and a sandwich at the convenience store. But today is a special day because the store has a promotion: buy 3 pay for 2. “Great deal” he says to himself.

This vicious cycle happens again and again. And after three months, Andy collapses.

He was a friend of mine. 

I guess you may know a few people who is similar to Andy who lives on caffeine (from tea, coffee, energy drinks, and soft drinks, yes you read it right, soft drinks contain caffeine).

The reason

Life is stressful to some of us, and we feel like we need to work more to fulfil our duty.

It could be our jobs or our commitments to our relationships with people we care.

Over time, we are running out of energy. To recover, we need to “recharge” ourselves by eating and sleeping properly day after day.

Unfortunately, some may not recharge when his energy is out. Instead, he “borrows energy” from caffeine.

When someone is exhausted, he needs to rest and gets a deep sleep.

However, for whatever reasons, he still has a lot of work to do. So he gets an “energy loan” from caffeine to keep going. And it seems to work 

Because

When he consumes caffeine, he stimulates his body. He feels alert. His mood and mental performance improve.

And he thinks he is unstoppable. He keeps consuming caffeine and keeps going.

But 

After a while, he notices he needs to increase his “borrowed energy” because he feels that it is somewhat less effective. 

He is unable to sleep well because this “energy loan” caffeine delays the timing of his body clock and disrupts his sleep patterns.

He notices he becomes dependant on this loan because, without it, he can’t focus. He seems to be forgetful and prone to many small accidents. And that is "the repayment of this energy loan", the price to pay for excessive caffeine consumption.

Over time, his body will rely on this “energy loan” and demand more. Eventually, it becomes an addiction.

Unfortunately, this “energy loan” does not solve his problem,  it does not make his tiredness disappear but it also “accumulates tiredness interest” in his body.

He wonders why?

How does this “borrowed energy”- Caffeine work?

Caffeine does not magically top up his energy level. It simply makes his body ignored the fatigue. How does it do that?

By blocking “Adenosine”, a substance in your body that promotes sleepiness.

You see, when you overworked, the level of adenosine increases to shut down the brain. In other words, the brain signals our body to sleep to recover energy.

When you consume caffeine, you prevent your body and brain from resting. It is like you borrow energy from your body energy reserve by drug stimulation. 

The caffeine will start to lose its effect between 4 to 6 hours. So if you have a cup of coffee in the morning, and one before 3 PM, in theory, you should be able to sleep normally.

The maximum dose of caffeine is around 400mg daily which is around 2.5 cups of coffee. Anything more than that may cause you sleeping difficulties.

Get your sleep back

You use caffeine to “borrow energy” from your body when you have deadlines to meet. And that is ok if it happens once in a while.

You can re-pay this "energy loan" easily by eating and sleeping properly. There are many ways to do that.

But since you are here, I would like to introduce you “fatigue reliever” drink. This simple drink contains only one ingredient: Aquilaria leaves (Agarwood tea).

As mentioned above, Adenosine promotes sleepiness and it is in the Aquilaria leaves.

Instead of “borrowing energy” from your body, why don’t create one? I am referring you to the real energy from deep good night sleep. 

Imagine a deep, eight-hour sleep every night so you wake up with a clear mind

Imagine the ability to start the day focused using your own energy instead of “borrowing” it

Bonus: you may also get back 15 minutes of your day, every day

Aquilaria leaves promote bowel movement because of its laxative effect. It means if you drink it before going to bed, you won’t have to bring your phone into the toilet with you.

The reason: you will finish “your job” before you start browsing on Chrome or Safari. You can surf the Internet on your table instead of the toilet.

Imagine that

Click here to get back your sleep back