BlueHeron wrote:LynnCS wrote:"People like to hear good news about their bad habits." Dr. John McDougall
I don't see how this is pertinent, and it seems kind of uncalled for. I wouldn't call my response looking for good news about bad habits. I'd call it pointing out a lack of evidence. I drink tea every day. I don't have insomnia every night.
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." Oscar Wilde
This part of the thread illustrates rather clearly the uphill battle of getting the McDougall diet accepted by the masses.
I had switched from regular to decaf tea, and I too had a cuppa every day but not insomnia every night. I don't think it matters how often one has insomnia in order to find a correlation with caffeine consumption, even the amount in decaffeinated drinks. I had insomnia often enough that I was interested in finding the cause as well as the cure. Once I cut out all caffeine whatsoever (even decaf, which still contains a small amount), the quality of my sleep improved overall quite a bit.
In a way, it IS about wanting to hear good news about our bad habits. If you're unwilling to cut out your caffeinated products temporarily to see if you do sleep better more nights than not, that's fine, it's your choice. But... what if it's the caffeine that causes your insomnia? Wouldn't you like to know that?
Someone mentioned Celestial Seasonings' Bengal Spice tea as a nice big tea with no caffeine. I have been using their Roastaroma as a coffee substitute, and I enjoy their Mint Magic at work for a breaktime treat. I also use Teechino and Pero as coffee subs. I am not a fan of sweet drinks, including fruity teas and such, so I don't get all excited over herbal teas which tend to be sweet unless they're medicinal.
As an aside, I have read that a warm shower makes you drowsy and prepares you to sleep while a very hot shower actually invigorates and energizes. Just throwing that out there.
Robyn