General Tile Discussion

Not sure why I feel moved to talk about this but I know that coffee and energy drinks are generally as important to tile work as a bucket and trowel are. I have been a one big cup in the morning coffee drinker for most of my adult life and have recently decided to quit cold turkey. One of the reasons I am doing this is that I had started to have difficulty with sleep. Not falling asleep, but I was waking up earlier than I wanted, like 4 or 5am after only 5 or 6 hrs of sleep and not being able to fall back asleep. I also, found that I was starting to get headaches in the afternoon, and if I had a Red Bull or something I felt better. I don't want to be depending on a energy drink just to feel ok.

This is not the first time I've done this, and I don't think I am quitting forever but I thought I would share my experience. I am one week in, so I'll keep you posted.

Day 1: (last Monday). We went to a music festival that weekend, and I drank a lot of caffeine. Since I don't drink alcohol or do drugs, it just felt appropriate to have a few red bulls and a few Yerba Mattes in the afternoons. Monday I just felt it's time for a change. So I had a diet coke (about 45 mg caffeine) to try to take the edge off.

Day 2: Cold Turkey. Nothing. Slept good that night. 7hrs. Felt fine in the morning. Did some push ups and squats to get the blood pumping and felt really good. By the afternoon I felt a little cranky and tired but not bad.

Day 3: No caffeine. Slept good. 7-8 hrs. Same morning routine and felt ok. But by mid morning a bad headeache came on. Took 800mg ibuprofen and seemed to help a little bit. But by the afternoon a splitting headache and just had to power through it. Felt kinda like a migraine...sensitivity to light and some neck/shoulder pain.

Day 4: No caffeine. Slept ok. 6-7 hrs. Still lingering headache, and brain fog but no advil. Played golf in the afternoon and felt pretty good but still kinda lingering headache while I played and sensitivity to light. Wore sunglasses.

Day 5: No caffeine. Slept ok. 6hrs. Same morning workout routine. Took 2 advil mid morning as the headache and stiff neck was still there. Felt ok but just slow. I noticed I did not have any anxiety at all. My thoughts seemed to be slower. My wife commented to me that my skin looked good and I didn't look stressed. Date night with wife had a great dinner. Felt really good physically and mentally other than words seem to come a little slower.

Day 6: No caffeine. Slept really good. I woke up at 3 am because of my dog, but fell right back to sleep. Got 8hrs of sleep. Woke up early to go fishing. Had a great day, first day with no headache.

Day 7: Yesterday. Slept 9.5hrs. I almost never sleep that much. But we had a nice rainstorm and it helped me sleep in. Morning push ups/squats to get me going and then Sunday brunch with the wife. Had a chill day, it was rainy and misty most of the morning. Some small projects and watched some TV and then golf in the afternoon. Finally felt 100% and not cranky at all. Had dinner and fell asleep around 11pm.

Today: Feeling great. Got 7hrs of sleep, and had a great meeting this morning with my crew and briefed/debriefed them. I still feel a little slower. But I think it is because I usually run pretty stressed through the first part of the day and I'm not used to it. I kinda just feel like everything is going to be ok, instead of "what do I have to do right now so that I feel ok".

Anyways, thought I'd share! I'll keep you posted on how it goes.