Coffee — the wonder drug draped in the facade of a regular drink, offering respite from the shackles of sleep. Perhaps one of the earliest bio-hacks conceived by humanity.

While a good cup of joe keeps one’s mind active, chugging copious amounts of coffee can wreak havoc on your sleep cycle.

The night of

This project is critical and must be finished tonight.

The deadline is tomorrow morning.

It’s just a one time thing.

One all-nighter is not that big a deal.

Just one more hour, and then I turn off the lights.

All the above are statements we’ve told ourselves at some point of time to convince our mind to push through the night, to fight the good fight against the evil sleep.

Nothing but lies we choose to feed on, as Lucifer’s laughter echoes through the pits of the underworld.

The morning after

You get out of bed, groggy from last night’s gruelling effort, looking for your morning fix of that sweet nectar that shall keep you awake during that ultra-important meeting that you can’t miss.

Few hours have passed, and your mind begins to demand sleep. You silence that weak brain of yours by drowning it in a double-espresso. Ah! Good riddance.

Another hour passes, and the urge to let your eyelids fall, returns. Why though? You just had the elixir of sleeplessness. Perhaps it was too weak. A stronger dose should do the job.

Clock continues to tick away, and your mind keeps swinging from the state of extreme awareness, to zoning out from time to time.

Fatigue kicks in, making yet another argument to lie down and slip into the realm of dreams. Just a few more hours, you think. The day is about to be over.

You reach home with the hopes of finally getting that good sleep you’ve been thinking of all day. Though now that you lie between the sheets, sleep eludes you, perhaps upset that you’ve been avoiding it.

The Regret

As you lay awake cursing that evening coffee, wishing you hadn’t had it, you are torn between your desire to sleep, and your brain’s disapproval of turning off for the night.

You succumb to your mind’s erratic behaviour and close your eyes hoping for the noise to drown, vowing under your breath to not consume so much caffeine in future, knowing fully well, the futility of that promise.