The department of

Caffeine

Caffeine affects sleep timing, depth, and quality in ways worth understanding. Explore half-life, sensitivity, timing, and how much is too much with science and honest reviews.

Pieces 6
A dim bedroom at 11 p.m., photographed at eye level from the foot of…
Sleep August 2026 · 9 min

What Four Fitness Trackers Told Me About My 2 p.m. Coffee: 100 Nights, One Number, and 17 Minutes

Seventeen minutes. That is the number this piece is built on: the median difference in how long it took me to fall asleep on nights when I'd had caffeine after 2 p.m.

By James Hartley · Read →
A photorealistic overhead still-life photograph taken at night on a dark walnut nightstand: a…
Sleep August 2026 · 6 min

What Fitness Tracker Wearables Can Actually See When You Drink Coffee at Four in the Afternoon

I drank a double espresso at 4:15 on a Tuesday afternoon — about 130 mg of caffeine, roughly a small diner coffee — and then went to bed at 11:20 with a band on my wrist. I knew it was a bad idea.

By Daniel Whitfield · Read →
Photorealistic overhead still-life on a dark walnut bedside table at night: five different smartwatches…
Sleep August 2026 · 6 min

Smartwatch Deals and the 2pm Rule: Five Watches, One Evening Coffee, Six Weeks of Data

Every September the wearables go on the front page, and a certain kind of buyer — me, for about six years — starts justifying the upgrade with sleep. The pitch writes itself.

By Samuel Briggs · Read →
Photorealistic pre-dawn photograph of a narrow canal towpath in winter at 6 a.m., a…
Sleep August 2026 · 10 min

Down Jacket Reviews From the 6 a.m. Coffee Walk: Five Jackets, 41 Dark Mornings, One Sleep Log

Last winter I bought five down jackets in nine days and wore each of them on the same pre-dawn loop, with the same dog, after the same 200 mg of coffee.

By Elliot Carver · Read →
Photorealistic overhead close-up of a rumpled white linen bed at 3 a.m., shot from…
Sleep August 2026 · 5 min

Apple Watch Deals Before the Series 12: I Wore Three Generations to Bed for 41 Nights

The sleep-tracking upgrade you're waiting for already shipped, and it shipped in 2022. Everything after that has been faster charging, a brighter screen at 3 a.m., and a slightly nicer thing to have…

By Marcus Webb · Read →
A photorealistic documentary photograph taken from inside a European night train couchette compartment at…
Sleep August 2026 · 6 min

European Train Travel vs. the 06:25 Flight: I Tracked My Sleep and My Coffee Across 2,340 Kilometres

A night train is sold on a single number: seven hours of travel that cost you nothing, because you were going to be unconscious anyway.

By Emily Drayton · Read →