Caffeine overdose

OK, that was an experience and a half. Not bad enough I had that birthday party on Saturday that I “had” to go to, but I also struggled with a caffeine overdose.

I struggle to drink a liter a day, but sweating a lot with training (sure you wanted to hear that ) I really have to start drinking a lot more. Most programs recommend a lot of water and herbal and/ or green tea. I am neither a coffee nor tea drinker so caffeine has never been an issue for me. Over the last week I had some green tea and on Friday night I sat down and had about 1 1/2 thermos flask (about 5 -6 cups) of green tea and started to feel all shaky and hyper. Why did I drink that much? It was all cold and windy outside so the tea tastes even better. I poured the rest down the sink because that is when I realized what I am actually doing to myself. I was worried that I won’t be able to sleep that night, but I passed out as usual. I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache and took some tablets. The times have well and truly gone where I was just able to sleep headache off, now I have to take something or it will get 10 times worse.

In the morning my resting heart rate was raised, I was still shaky and hyper, headache and felt nauseous. WOW! And people drink this stuff (coffee …) on a regular basis????? OK, I admit I went over the top, but I am sure there are a lot of people out there that drink this amount on a daily basis easily. I am now wondering if I was still on caffeine that caused all my problems the next day or if it was my withdrawal from it.

Now I am not really sure what to do. After this episode I know I can do without caffeine in the future, but at the same time everybody goes on about green tea and the health benefits associated with it. Well, at least in moderation and not like me drowning in the stuff .

I had a look in my tea book to see what they say about the tea and there is a long list of positive effects, but as usual, take everything with a pinch of salt. I guess you also know that green tea should not be used with boiling water or it will taste bitter. Let it cool down a bit. What was new to me is the following which I found quite helpful:

For a stimulating cup of green tea you let it steep for 90 seconds. I never leave the leaves in longer because I don’t like the strong taste of the tea. 5-6 cups of stimulating green tea certainly explains why I was hyper .  

For a milder cup you let the leaves steep for 5 minutes. 

For less caffeine you steep the leaves for 90 seconds, pour the tea away and then use the same leaves to steep for 5 minutes.   

Sounds like worth a try. I am just wandering if the healthy benefits get poured down the sink as well which makes it pretty pointless to drink it in the first place.

I guess I suffered from a different kind of hangover the next day. Things you do for your health or is it just me ?