At about 01:00 in the wee hours of the morning, eyes open, pupils dilated, eyelids refusing to stay shut, the regret of that double espresso at 18:30 the previous evening sure hit me strong. My habit is to avoid caffeine after noon for a chance at a good night’s sleep. Coffee after 15:00 pretty much assures a disturbance to my sleep pattern. I know better, but I wanted to tell my friend that I’m going back to China in a few weeks. I chanced the evening espresso, and I lost. Oh well, it gave me a chance to think about writing this blog post.

Through my research, I have found that fasters experience fewer sleeping hours quite regularly. In the first few months of intermittent fasting, my wife and I would lie side-by-side pretending to sleep, so as to not wake the other, and then we would share notes the…