Acting + Misc Skills Flashcards
Wine Terms
“The easiest way to get
into wine is to invest in a
corkscrew.”
Acidity (n.): The sour component in wine, coming
mainly from tartaric, malic, and citric acids. Acidity makes wine taste crisp and fresh, and balances
sweetness, tannin, and alcohol. Acidity can mask
sweetness and this applies vice-versa. Therefore,
a good way to evaluate acidity is by gauging how
much a wine makes your mouth water since the
higher the acid content, the higher the salivary
response.
Alcohol (n.): The byproduct of fermentation that
differentiates wine from grape juice. Alcohol levels
in table wine range from around 7% alcohol by
volume (in a Mosel riesling, for example) to 16%
(like an Amarone from Northern Italy). Alcohol has
a slightly sweet flavor and can be perceived in the
back of the throat as a warming sensation.
Concentration (n.): The depth of body and
intensity of other components on the palate.
The opposite of watery or weak, concentration is
usually a desirable quality in a wine, but excessive
concentration can be intrusive, especially without
other balancing components such as acidity.
Coravin (n.): A wine preservation device for
consumers that uses a thin needle to pour one
glass of wine at a time, replacing the airspace
in the bottle with pure, nonreactive argon gas.
Because the wine left in the bottle is not
exposed to oxygen, it stays fresh for many months,
rather than a day or two. It’s a very useful device
for an aspiring wine connoisseur as it allows you
to compare many wines side by side without the
need to throw bottles away afterwards.
Finish (n.): The length of time for which the aftereffects of a wine persist—how long you continue
to be aware of a wine after spitting or swallowing.
This is primarily to do with the length of the aftertaste, but great wines will also leave footprints
of all their other attributes, including tannins and
acidity. James believes the finish of the wine to be
the single most important factor in determining a
wine’s quality.
Oxidation (n.): A fault whereby excessive oxygen has reacted with the wine, leading to dull
and often “candied” flavors. Aerating the wine
by decanting or swirling it in your glass introduces small amounts of oxygen, allowing aromas to
become more pronounced. But too much oxygen
results in browning of the color and lackluster or
vinegary flavors, which you may notice after a
bottle has been open for a few days. Oxygen is not
always the enemy, though: intentional oxidation
in the winemaking process is used to create nutty,
bruised apple notes in wines like sherry and
Madeira.
Residual sugar (n.): How much sugar is left in a
finished wine, measured in grams per liter. Dry
wines have no perceptible R.S., while dessert wines
can have upwards of 50g/L. Small amounts (2 to
3 g/L) of R.S. balance acidity and tannin in red
wines, making them taste more harmonious without tasting sweet. Higher sugar content increases
the body of a wine, which is why dessert wines are
rich and luscious in texture.
Structure (n.): The complete picture a wine builds
on your palate. A lot has to do with the textural
impression the tannins create in your mouth,
although the overall harmony between body,
tannins, and acidity is also important.
Sulfur (n.): A naturally-occuring chemical element.
It is a preservative that has been used in winemaking since Roman times to keep wine from turning
to vinegar. In its elemental form, sulfur is sprayed
in vineyards to manage powdery mildew. As sulfur
dioxide (SO2), it is used almost universally at many
stages of winemaking to slow oxidation and prevent bacterial growth. Governments regulate the
maximum amount of SO2 (measured in parts per
million) that can be present in the finished wine,
but most wines come in far, far below this level.
Certified organic and biodynamic wines have even lower maximum levels. Some claim that wines with
added sulfites cause headaches; however, there is no scientific evidence for this.
hold your own blind tasting
Set a goal: What is the goal of the tasting? Is it to try
to identify the wines, or is it to rate their quality? Either
way, tasting blind means that your perception is not
influenced by the label on the bottle. For a quality tasting, it can be helpful to have some information, like what country the wines are from, to put your tasting in context.
Focus on the wine: Tasting should be in an area that is
clean, well-lit, and free of distractions. It can be harder to concentrate on tasting when you’re in a cellar, at a large wine dinner or tasting, or at a restaurant. Clean, uniform glasses and a white background help you note the color of the wine.
Hide the labels: Have someone open the wines and pour them out of sight, or put the bottles in bags with a rubber band secured around the neck so you can’t see the
label.
Taste at the right temperature: White wines should be tasted at 11–14°C (52–57°F); taking the bottles out of your refrigerator about an hour before the tasting will have them cool enough to retain freshness, but not so cold as to mute aromas and hide taste and texture. Red wines should be tasted at 15–18°C (59–64°F), or slightly cooler than room temperature. Twenty minutes in the fridge before your tasting should chill them just enough. Consistency in the temperature of the wines helps you make consistent evaluations across wines.
Swirl the wine: Swirling in the glass brings air to the
wine and helps release its aromas. The optimal amount
for tasting is 30–50mL (about 1.5 ounces).
Keep your palete fresh: Spitting the wine into a spitoon
(which can be made from anything: a jug, a jar, a Champagne bucket) after tasting can keep your palate from getting fatigued as you taste. Keep bread, crackers, or olives on hand to refresh your palate as you taste. James prefers high pH water like that found in Tuscany to restore his palate after tasting high-acid wines. Try buying alkaline bottled water to mimic this effect at home.
GET TO KNOW THE 100-POINT
RATING SYSTEM:
Wine tasting involves a series of questions. What is
the color telling you about the age of the wine?
Then think of the aromas of the wine, which may recall
fruits, flowers, or perfumes. (Or weirder things, like “wet
dog in a phone booth” or “old baseball glove,” which
might describe faults in a wine from bacterial spoilage.)
You don’t need to worry too much about whether your
strawberries are cherries or your chocolate is actually coffee. The key is to be consistent. Next to consider
is body, which is how filling the wine is in your palate
or its weight. Texture refers to how the tannin (always
present in red wine, sometimes in white) relates to the alcohol, the fruit flavors, and the acidity of the wine.
How does the whole wine finish? What’s the overall quality? Various components of the wine can tell you when the grapes were picked, where the wine comes from, how the wine was produced, and how it was aged.
The 100-point scale derives from the traditional school
grading format and is an intuitive way to compare
wines against each other. A mental shortcut is to assign
letter grades as if you were in school. If you rate a wine
as less than a B, don’t bother with it. After all, “Life’s
too short to drink bad wine.” James used this system at
Wine Spectator and also for his tasting notes at JamesSuckling.com. Don’t just consider intensity, balance, and complexity of individual elements, but also how they interact with one another. For example, if a wine is very full-bodied, does it have enough acidity for it
to retain a sense of freshness? If a wine is quite tannic, does it have the flavor depth to back up the muscular structure? The 100-point scale assigns 15 points for the color of the wine, 25 points for aroma, 25 points for the palate or structure, and 35 points for overall quality.
• 100 points (A) — Wines you fall in love with that
touched your heart and soul. You rush to buy a case
of these wines and you will remember them for the
rest of your life. 100-point wines are perfect wines,
with the ideal combination of intensity, balance, and
complexity at every level.
• 95–99 points (A) — Wines that make you “want
to drink a bottle of on your own.” They are classic
wines that rank as the best in the world. They rank
extremely highly against all criteria while not quite
attaining the level of flawlessness of 100-point
wines.
• 90–94 points (A) — Wines that make you “want to
drink the glass right away.” These are outstanding
wines that have no real shortcomings but could be
even more exciting in a few areas.
• 85–89 points (B) — Wines that are well made and
enjoyable, but fall slightly short in a number of areas.
Alternatively, they may be excellent otherwise but
miss the mark in one respect.
• 80–84 (B) — Wines that have no technical faults
(e.g. bacterial spoilage), but have a number of characteristics that could interfere with one’s enjoyment.
• 70–79 (C) — Wines that are borderline undrinkable
and show serious winemaking faults. Best avoided as
“life is too short.” Fortunately, few wines at this level
are made these days!
“It’s all about tasting,
enjoying, and thinking
about what’s in the glass.”
• Think about the quality of the fruit: is it fresh, overripe,
or dried?
• Think about the color of the fruit: is it red, black, or
blue (for red wines)?
• Is the wine earthy, or is it driven more by fruit flavors?
• How about herbs or spices, like black pepper?
• Is there any funkiness or barnyard character?
• Note the texture: if there are bubbles, how do they
feel? Is the wine lean or dense?
• For red wines, what is the quality of the tannin? Firm,
woody, ripe? Is it drying out your mouth?
• Do you smell vanilla or nutmeg? This indicates aging in
oak barrels.
• How does the wine’s taste on your palate compare to
the way it smells?
• Is there any sweetness, or is the wine dry (not sweet)?
• Does the acidity make your mouth water, or does it
taste flat?
• Can you feel the alcohol in the back of your mouth?
High alcohol can also make a wine taste sweeter.
• Are all the components harmoniously balanced, or
does one element overpower the rest?
• How do you think it will change over time? Does it
have aging potential?
• How would you score the wine on the 100-point scale?
Color
Often overlooked, color can tell you a lot about a wine. Having said that, it’s the
least important element, behind nose and palate. More often than not, you are looking for potential defects or red flags rather than trying to judge a book by its cover. You should consider both a
wine’s hue in the glass and its intensity.
Make sure you make any judgements in
good, white lighting—natural sunlight if possible. You can tilt the glass to about 45
degrees for a good look.
While it’s useful to have a set of vocabulary for color on hand (purple, ruby,
brick-red, etc.), don’t get too hung up on whether a pale lemon color might actually be a lightish straw. Look instead for anomalies such as a very garnet or even browning tinge in a red wine or a hint of amber in a white wine, which could be signs of oxidation, depending on the age of a wine. Wine tasting is all about piecing together the evidence: What you
notice in the color may be due to one of many factors and you may only be able
to make an educated guess after moving
on to the nose and palate.
For example,
a very golden color could be evidence of a wine having undergone lengthy aging in barrel, but it could equally just be the product of a thick-skinned grape that
tends to that particular shade.
It’s often wrongly thought that intensity of color is an indication of quality.
Pale-colored wines may simply be wines from grapes that don’t have a lot of pigmentation such as pinot noir or nebbiolo.
Conversely, it’s not true that if a wine has a deep color it couldn’t possibly be from a grape with thin skins—the wine may simply have spent a long time in barrel or
it may contain small amounts of another grape variety, masking the expected
color. On the other hand, if the wine is very pale and also has very fresh aromas,
it might well be from a marginal climate; or if a wine has a very deep color and
also dominating wood aromas, it’s a first
clue it may have been overworked in the
cellar.
There are other elements to appearance that may give first indications about aspects of a wine. Don’t be afraid if you notice sediment or a haziness in the glass,
for instance. This could either suggest a choice not to filter the wine, or it may just be an older wine—tannins join together as wine ages and fall to the bottom of a bottle. It can be useful to inspect the size and aggressiveness of bubbles in a sparkling wine, as it often predicts how
they will be sensed on the palate later. However, don’t read too much into the
“legs,” which say very little about a wine apart from a crude indication of alcohol
content.
nose
Sometimes, it can seem unnecessary or even pretentious to spend a lot of time sniffing and snorting into your glass!
However, almost all the flavors of a wine
are continuations of its aromas, which are channeled up by the mouth into the
nose when we swallow. Clearly, there can be a lot of jargon and hyperbole when it comes to describing aromas, so the most important thing is to be honest and only
pick up on what you can actually smell.
It’s normal for everything just to smell like “grapes” when you get started. Take
the time to find your voice and confidence and don’t be intimidated by others
who might merely be trying to impress!
Swirl the glass before each sniff and don’t take another sniff until around 10 seconds afterwards, as your nose needs time before it can process new sensations. To
start out with, it can be helpful to put your nose as close as possible to the wine
or even cover your hand over the glass to contain the evaporating compounds.
Keep alternating between different wines as after a while you can get odor fatigue and coming back to the same wine can give you a different perspective you
didn’t have previously.
Conventional descriptors can be good rules of thumb, but don’t shy away from
what the wine evokes in your own memory—exotic spices from a recent holiday
abroad, the herbs from your grandmother’s garden, a fruit particular to your area. Do remember though that it will be difficult to compare notes with others if your descriptors are too unusual.
Instead of trying to identify aromas all at once, it can be helpful to group them
into primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary aromas are derived directly from the fermenting grapes and are what relate to the primary factors of influence
in the vineyard, such as grape variety,
soil, climate, et cetera (see
Chapter 2:
Primary Factors of Influence).
They are comprised mostly of fruits, flowers, and herbs. Secondary aromas come from the compounds obtained in cellar processes
after fermentation, including malolactic fermentation (e.g. yoghurt, milky aromas
in white wines), and aging in oak (e.g.
vanilla, cloves, coconut). Tertiary aromas
apply only to older wines and appear after aging in bottle, beginning usually
a few years after purchase (e.g. mushrooms, tobacco).
Focus on a different category of aromas
with each sniff and don’t only try to describe what they remind you of. Ask other questions such as whether the bouquet is pronounced, medium, or light in intensity. A subtle nose does not necessarily mean the wine is below par if the palate then impresses—it may simply be a young wine that needs air to open up or a few more years in bottle.
In addition to intensity, balance and complexity are the most important factors by
which James assesses quality in a wine.
These apply just as much to the nose as
they do the palate. Look to see if the aromas verge on underripeness or overripeness. Are they fresh or slightly stale like
fruit that was left too long in your fridge?
Or are there medicinal or asparagus
notes that interfere with your enjoyment
of the wine? In considering complexity, see how many individual descriptors you
ascribe to one wine—do the aromas sit
together in a beautiful, ornate pattern, or
is the wine rather one-dimensional with
one smell overpowering everything else.
Badly made wines often only taste like
oak.
Palate
While aromas are often the most revealing of a wine’s origin, the palate is the
fundamental key both to understanding
quality and, of course, enjoying any wine!
A good wine can’t have a lackluster palate. The palate is also the most difficult
aspect of a wine to grasp as it combines
not only taste but also touch and smell.
There is no set order to decipher the
various components of a wine on the
palate, but this is James’s usual preference: sweetness (where applicable), body, tannins (mostly for red wine), acidity,
finish, and flavors. When you first begin
your adventure as a wine taster, it can be difficult to pick up on all of these at the
same time. It’s therefore a good idea to
focus on one or two aspects at a time with
each sip.
As long as the wine covers most of your
tongue, a sip doesn’t have to be a huge
amount. Spend some time swirling the
wine around your mouth and introduce
some extra oxygen by opening your lips
slightly and breathing in; if done right,
you should produce a somewhat unpalatable gurgling sound. Around five to six seconds is a good time frame in which to swirl the wine around on your palate.
SWEETNESS
Most wines are dry, which means they contain no sugar or at least less than perceptible by humans which is, in general, anything under 3g/L. That’s why James doesn’t usually mention a wine’s sweetness in his tasting notes unless the wine actually has a degree of sweetness. The sweetness scale runs from dry to off-dry (very slightly sweet) to medium-sweet to sweet to luscious. High alcohol and low acidity often make a wine appear sweeter than it is, while high acidity can mask sweetness, so this needs accounting for in any judgment of sweetness. Sweetness can be easily confused with fruitiness, which is a perception of flavors not of sugar. Fruity wines are not necessarily sweet and sweet wines are not necessarily fruity. This is why when most new wine drinkers ask for a dry wine, what they are really after is a wine that’s not particularly fruity—rather than a wine with no sugar, which is true of most wines.
BODY
The body of a wine is best understood as
the perception of “weight” a wine gives
on the palate. Another way to understand this is how “viscous” a wine is on
your mouth—is it thick, offering plenty
of resistance like an oil or cream, or does
it flow easily, unhindered, like water
would? Since whether a wine is light,
medium, or full-bodied largely depends
on its ABV, alcohol is not usually given
separate treatment by James in his tastings. However, very high alcohol (15%+),
especially when not in balance with other
components, can be a problem, as can
very low alcohol if there is nothing much
else to it (although this is less common).
High alcohol levels may produce a burning sensation on the palate. A fuller body
is associated with higher quality as it
adds to intensity and a sense of completeness, but lighter-bodied wines are
not necessarily poorer wines. Each wine
needs to be assessed individually as some
grapes and styles tend to lighter bodies.
TANNINS
Tannins, the class of long molecules from grape skins, seeds, and stems, are probably the worst understood components of wine.
Often confused with acidity, tannins are what cause the drying or puckering sensation in most red wines. Tannins are not usually mentioned in tasting notes with respect to white wines, as whites are generally fermented without their skins. Although the amount of tannin (light, medium, and high) in a wine is of importance, quality rather than quantity is the most important assessment to make. Carefully extracted and matured tannins create mouthfeel, texture, and structure (the textural and complete picture a wine builds on your palate).
The first question to ask is whether the tannins are ripe or underripe. Underripe tannins are coarse and often bitter. The second question is whether the tannins are integrated, i.e. don’t stick out and fold well into the rest of the wine, or coat the palate rather aggressively, which could be a sign of over-extraction during the winemaking process. Finally, ask yourself what kind of textural feeling do they evoke. Are they velvety, fine-grained, soft? Are they linear and compact—prevalent but focused at the center of the palate? Do they add to a sense of complexity and structure? Or are they quite simple, one-dimensional? Do they immediately dry your mouth out, leaving you loath to sample more? Poorly crafted tannins often coat the entire mouth quickly but remain hollow in the center palate and lose their focus.
As a wine gets older, the tannins soften and become more integrated. This is why any assessment of tannins should always be considered in the context of a wine’s age. An older wine with particularly firmtannin will likely never come around, but a young wine with some bite may simply need a few years in bottle. Interpreting tannins is among the most difficult concepts in wine tasting, and needs years of experience to master. A good starting point is tasting a wine and coming back to it in a few years or doing as many vertical tastings as possible to see how the same or similar wine evolves through the years.
ACIDITY
Acidity is what determines how sour a
wine tastes. As previously mentioned,
acidity can mask sweetness and this applies vice-versa. Therefore, a good way to evaluate acidity is by gauging how much a wine makes your mouth water since the higher the acid content, the higher the salivary response.
The level of acidity should be enough to provide freshness in a wine—otherwise the wine could appear “flabby”—but not too much as to make it “tart.” Balance is key. White wines tend to have higher acidities than red wines
FINISH
The finish of a wine is the single most
important point when determining the
quality of a wine. In a nutshell, the finish
is how long the aftereffects of a wine persist—how long you continue to be aware of a wine after spitting or swallowing.
This is primarily to do with the length of
the aftertaste, but great wines will also
leave footprints of all their other attributes, including tannins and acidity. An
exceptional finish should leave the taster
coming back for more; it shouldn’t dry
the mouth out, as an overly tannic finish
might, nor should it leave unpalatable
flavors in the mouth such as excessive
bitterness.
FLAVORS
As already mentioned, most flavors are
simply another expression of aromas due
to the anatomical connection between
the nose and the mouth. This is why
professional wine critics such as James
usually only reference particular flavors
in notes (e.g. strawberries, wet earth, hot
stones) if they were not already recognizable on the nose.
The human tongue
itself can only differentiate between five
tastes: sweetness, sourness, bitterness,
saltiness, and umami. The first three
have already been covered in some detail.
Saltiness is sometimes touched on as
wines do contain trace elements of sodium ions as well as other substances that give saline notes. However, this is usually relevant only to a small number of wines, often whites from coastal areas. Umami, which is the perception of savoriness, is rarely used in tasting notes.
Reading a wine list
Research in advance: Preview the restaurant’s wine list
online before your visit to find out what they specialize
in and think of a few bottles you may want to try.
Determine your budget: Be clear with the sommelier
what your budget is. Ask for a few suggestions in your
price range based on a description of what style of wine you want, like “a full-bodied red from Italy with some oak between $70 and $90,” or “an aromatic white with lower acidity, for under $50.”
Look for value: The markup for a bottle of wine in a
restaurant is anywhere from two to four times the cost
of the same bottle at retail, and the highest margins
are made on wines offered by the glass and the lowest
priced bottles. The best comparative values are found
in the mid-priced and more expensive bottles. In countries with high taxes on wines, such as the Middle East or Southeast Asia, the reverse is usually true as duties are often based on value. In these cases, it’s best to stick with more affordable bottles.
If you go by the glass: Be aware of where you are: a
restaurant with a good wine list will usually have a good glass selection, but a bad restaurant may not have a good selection or take care of those wines well. Be particularly wary of oxidation with wines by the glass as they could have been open for many days.
Make a connection: Endeavor to connect with and learn
from your sommelier or wine server. They can tell you
what the restaurant specializes in, and help you find good values on the list, or even recommend special wines that are not printed on the menu. You also want to be able to have a conversation with them if there is a problem with the bottle you order.
Focus on the first taste: When the bottle is opened and
you are poured a taste, focus on the wine to see if it’s
faulty, because you can’t send a wine back after you’ve
drank half the bottle! If the characteristics are hard to discern at first because the wine is so cold, don’t be afraid to ask the sommelier to warm the bottle up first.
Focus on what you know: If you’re buying to impress, a
good idea is to buy within your comfort zone. For example, if you know a lot about Spanish wines, choose wines from this category. But don’t be afraid to explore other possibilities to widen your wine horizons. After all, wine is about enjoyment and new experiences! Start out by sampling unfamiliar grapes or regions that could be similar in taste to your usual preferences.
Buy exclusive bottles: Some very prestigious restaurants have bottles you can only find through them or at other fine dining establishments. Budget permitting, it can be a treat to explore these kinds of exclusive wines.
Be aware of the environment: Only buy expensive wines at restaurants where you can be assured they were kept in good condition, and will be served in appropriate glassware and at the right temperature. There’s no use splurging in an environment where you can’t properly enjoy your prized bottle.
If you bring your own: Call the restaurant beforehand to
see if they allow you to bring in your own wine, and how much the corkage fee will be. Don’t bring a wine that the restaurant already has on the list, or a very inexpensive bottle. Practice good etiquette: It’s polite to order a bottle of the restaurant’s list as well for every bottle you bring in of your own, and to offer a taste of your wine to your sommelier. Don’t forget to tip for the wine service whether you brought the bottle or not.
james ’s pairing tips :
Texture is more important to consider than color in food and wine pairing. You can successfully pair with wine that either complements or contrasts with the dish.
- The wine should refresh your palate, not coat it. Choose well-balanced wines that will combine with the dish’s flavors rather than high-alcohol blockbusters that will overwhelm the food.
- Cook with high-quality wines you would want to drink.
• Champagne pairs with almost everything, and it is a
great apéritif before a meal.
• If you’d like to drink red wine with fish, choose reds that
act like white wines. Fruity wines with fresh acidity and
low tannin like pinot noir and gamay work well.
• Asian food that has spicy, sour, sweet, and salty elements can pair with most wines, but those with good
acidity or a touch of sweetness tend to match especially
well.
• Older wines go best with simple foods like cheese or
grilled meat so the wine’s complexity can take center
stage.
• Pair desserts with wines that have a similar level of
sweetness, like gelato with Sauternes, the famous sweet wine of Bordeaux, made from semillon and sauvignon blanc grapes affected by noble rot.
• Tailor the wine to your occasion and moment, rather
than focusing too much on pairing the wine perfectly
with the food.
Night Owls
…are more neurotic In 2012, a survey of almost 3,000 college students in Taiwan found that night owls were more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suffer from obsessive tendencies. They also scored higher in the categories for “novelty-seeking” and “harm-avoidance.”
…have their own society The B Society of Denmark (motto: “Rise Late - Do Great”) is on a mission to reduce social jet lag by advocating for later start times at offices and schools to better match society’s work hours to our many different biological rhythms.
…drink more, smoke more, and have more sex According to a 400,000-person study in the U.K., so-called definite evening types were more likely to drink and do drugs. Another smaller study, published out of Durham University in England, found that male night owls have about four times as many sexual partners as their early bird counterparts
…have scarier dreams A 2010 survey of nearly 4,000 people in Canada found that self-identified night owls were more likely to have vivid, severe nightmares, independent of age and sleep duration.
…tend to be more creative In a U.K. study of more than 20,000 teens and adolescents, those who self-reported later sleep schedules were more intelligent and creative, on average, than those who went to bed early.
MORNING LARKS…
…tend to thrive in corporate settings Morning larks aren’t necessarily more successful, but they’re certainly better equipped to handle traditional working hours for office environments, where operating well in the wee morning hours is an asset, according to a study out of the University of Education in Heidelberg.
…may be happier A 2019 study published in Nature Communications assessed the sleep styles of 250,000 Americans via wrist-worn activity trackers. The results suggest that a genetic predisposition to waking early may be associated with a lower risk of mental health problems like schizophrenia and depression.
…tend to move around more during the day. Researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland tracked 6,000 middle-aged participants for two weeks and found that early risers experience 20 to 30 minutes more of significant movement throughout the day. The study did not seek to explain why evening types may be less active.
…may be more punctual Students who identify as early birds tend to arrive earlier to morning lectures, according to another small 300-person study at the University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany
How caffeine is impacting your sleep
schedule (and how to fix it)
First, understand that caffeine isn’t inherently bad. It’s
an organic compound that occurs naturally in plants—
most notably coffee, tea, and cocoa—where its bitter taste
discourages pests. When consumed by humans, it has the
neat by-product of temporarily altering certain brain signals, including those essential to sleep. In small doses—
say, a piece of chocolate or a few ounces of coffee—the
effects are generally mild. But high concentrations can
confuse the mind and body, wreaking havoc on our natural rhythm.
Ergo, becoming a conscious consumer of caffeine is one
easy way to become a better sleeper. Except conscious
consumption is difficult. For starters, synthetic caffeine is
often added to our ingestible products—some of them obvious (energy drinks), others less so (protein bars, aspirin). There are also disparities in nutritional labeling, and
factors like serving size can skew your perceptions of concentration. Reducing your intake of caffeinated beverages
is a simple concept. Compare a large iced chai with a medium cappuccino and a 40-ounce fountain soda, though,
and it starts getting murky.
Here, it’s best to moor yourself to some general reference points. According to the FDA, a typical 12-ounce
soda contains 30 to 40 milligrams of caffeine. The average
8-ounce cup of green or black tea has 30 to 50 milligrams,
while an 8-ounce cup of coffee packs closer to 80 to 100
milligrams. The agency also says that decaf coffee is a misnomer, as those varieties still contain 2 to 15 milligrams of
caffeine per 8-ounce cup (see that chart at right for more
info on the amount of caffeine in various products).
With these figures as a baseline, use a critical eye when
grocery shopping or dining out. Be wary of coffee- and
matcha-flavored foods, like yogurts and ice creams, which
have upwards of 30 milligrams of caffeine per 6-ounce
serving. Over-the-counter weight-loss supplements are, in
many cases, glorified caffeine pills; a single tablet might
contain 135 milligrams, so consider cutting them out entirely. If you’re really looking to cut down, steer clear of
products branded “energy”—even bottled waters or chewing gum.
Ready to put knowledge into action? Log your caffeine
intake over the course of one week in a journal or on your
phone. The following week, aim to reduce that figure by a
realistic percentage. You may be surprised at how easy it is
to trim consumption and the degree to which it positively
impacts your sleep.
IN DEFENSE OF NAPPING
1 Keep it short and sweet; you only need about 20 minutes of sleep to boost your mood and energy levels.
2 Try napping in the early afternoon; dozing off after 3 p.m. can mess with your nighttime sleep.
3 Create a restful environment; dark, quiet, and cool (around 65°F) is ideal.
IN DEFENSE OF NAPPING
But did dozing off really need a new pitch?
Hugely influential figures, from Albert Einstein
to Winston Churchill, are said to have indulged
in the act. It’s not a modern phenomenon, either; napping was written about in the Qur’an,
a text dating to the 1st century. Still, modern-day proponents of the nap say they’re fighting
an uphill battle. Despite reports about the efficacy of napping, stigmas about laziness persist.
Which is a shame, because evidence suggests we desperately need the rest.
According to surveys, the typical American adult gets an average of six hours and 31 minutes of sleep on
work nights—well below the seven to nine
hours needed for a healthy system. Rates are
lower in other industrialized nations like Japan,
where the average adult gets six hours and 22
minutes. But while Japan encourages napping
at work, most American employers can’t wrap
their heads around a simple idea: To avoid lying
down on the job, sometimes we need to actually lie down on the job.
There are signs of progress, though. Google
and Ben & Jerry’s have installed napping
pods—which look similar to MRI machines or
phone booths—at the office. Experts say these
winks can increase relaxation, reduce fatigue,
and improve mood. Whether we’re on the front
line or pushing through spreadsheets, a small
respite can make a huge difference.
Until the 1950s, people believed the brain was inactive
during sleep. Nothing could be further from the truth
bedtime. But the process starts during the day. When
you’re awake, your body produces adenosine, a chemical
that makes you drowsy. This continues to accumulate for
roughly 16 hours, until you register the feeling of exhaustion. (It takes about eight hours to clear your adenosine
cache, hence the recommended nightly sleep quotient.)
Once you settle down and drift off, the brain’s vital regions
begin to communicate and machinate, conspiring to enable productive sleep—and facilitate dreams.
The hypothalamus, roughly the size of a peanut, is a
leading agent. It contains the suprachiasmatic nucleus
(SCN), a bundle of nerves responsible for regulating your
internal clock, indicating when it’s time to pass out. The
brain stem—charged with controlling vital bodily functions like blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing—is a
hypothalamus collaborator, working to reduce activity in
the brain’s arousal centers. Crucially, the brain stem also
relaxes your body during REM sleep so you don’t act out
your dreams.
During REM sleep, the amygdala and cingulate cortex,
known as the deep emotional centers, go into overdrive.
These regions are up to 30 percent more active compared
with when you’re awake. The increase leads researchers to
believe that deep emotional processing might occur while
dreaming. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex, which manages rational thought and decision-making, shuts off once
the dreaming stage of REM begins.
This could explain why so many of our dreams seem nonsensical and our self-awareness is so limited (see how Hollywood handles trippy dream sequences on page 19). Much of
how we sleep and dream remains a mystery, but we do know
this: Regardless of how conked-out your body appears—or
how anarchic your dreams feel—your brain is hard at work.
When the lights go down, the real action begins.
