Fortitude Fridays

Vol. 134: The Caffeine Window That Fixes the Afternoon Crash (and Your Sleep). Plus Overthinking & More

Welcome to Fortitude Fridays—part mindset training, part field notes from real life. I share what I’m learning, testing, and using to help you take better care of yourself, strengthen your mindset, and keep showing up—week after week.

Here are a few ideas as you head into the weekend.

Read time: 6 mins

This Week’s Snapshot:

• Quote: Looking Upward
• Tactic: Find Your Caffeine Window
• Small Thought: Overthinking

Truth: I avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. —Charlotte Brontë A gentle reminder to worry less about what’s gone or what’s coming, and focus more on what inspires us. Source: Letter to her friend Ellen Nussey (January 15, 1849)

Tactic: How to Skip The Afternoon Crash Tax

Why your 2pm slump isn’t random—and the caffeine window that stops you from paying for it later.

Quick confession: I love coffee.

I worked at Starbucks at one point in my life. I’ve been a night shift nurse. I’m a mom. So yeah—coffee has carried me through entire eras.

And let me tell you, I still love a warm cup in the morning. That part hasn’t changed.

But a few years back I listened to a Huberman Lab episode on sleep (Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake), and the caffeine section was one of those "wait… that explains everything" moments.

Because for years my routine looked like this:

Wake up → coffee immediately → feel human → crash mid-afternoon → coffee again → wonder why my brain was running like a web browser with 47 tabs open at bedtime.

If that’s you too… I get it.

Here’s the simplest version of what I learned: delay it a bit… and cut it off earlier than you think.

One more thing: I’ve been doing this for a few years now. Not perfectly, but consistently. I can tell you from a long stretch of real-life evidence—when I keep caffeine in a window, I rarely get that afternoon crash anymore.

The days I do crash? It’s usually the days I slide back into “coffee whenever,” especially later in the day.

How it works: Build a caffeine window

Tea drinkers—you’re in this too. Same goes for matcha, energy drinks, pre-workout, and “I only have Diet Coke” people. If it has caffeine, it counts.

You don’t have to quit coffee or become a different person.

Just put caffeine in a window so it works for you instead of against you.

1) Delay caffeine 90–120 minutes after waking.​
If that feels aggressive, start with 30 minutes. We’re going for better, not extreme.

2) Stop caffeine about 10 hours before you want to be asleep.​
If 10 feels unrealistic, start with 8 hours and inch it back.

Example: Wake at 6:00am and want to be asleep by 10:30pm → caffeine window 7:30am–12:30pm.

Why this helps

Your brain builds up adenosine throughout the day—think of it as your body’s “time awake” meter. More adenosine = more sleep pressure.

Caffeine doesn’t give you energy—it blocks the receptors that adenosine normally uses to make you feel sleepy. So you feel alert.

But adenosine is still building in the background. When the caffeine wears off, all that built-up sleep pressure can hit at once (hello, afternoon slump). Additionally, if caffeine is still in your system later, it can blunt the deep, restorative sleep your body wants early in the night.

That’s the loop: tired → caffeine → sleep gets impacted → wake up tired → repeat.

Not a willpower issue. It's all timing plus chemistry.

Try this this week

Pick ONE:

• Option A: Keep your morning coffee, but delay it 30–60 minutes tomorrow.
• Option B: Choose a “last call” time for caffeine (start with 8 hours before bed).
• Option C: Do the full experiment for 7 days: caffeine window + notice what changes.

Two things to watch:
​Do you crash as hard in the afternoon?
Do you wake up feeling more clear?

Bringing it home

If coffee is part of your life, the goal isn’t to remove it. Not on my watch.

The goal is to stop turning it into a late-day rescue mission… and then wondering why sleep feels underwhelming.

Keep the ritual. Adjust the timing. That’s it.

You've got this.

Small But Mighty: Overthinking is the usually the brain trying to solve a feeling with logic. So name the feeling… then take the smallest next step.

So Cool:

Physics is wild. Click image to watch.

Thanks for reading. Hope you have some fun this weekend. Don't overthink it. Until next time…

You got this,

P.S. If you’re new—welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. You’ve just stepped into a community of people who are showing up, doing the work, and getting after what matters. We’re all about learning, growing, and building real momentum—together. Let’s go!

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