When we serve you hot drinks on our wards, they will be decaf by default.
You will still be able to request a drink with caffeine, but our norm is decaf (decaffeinated) coffee or tea.
We adopted our approach after pilots on some of our wards. These showed how the switch to decaf reduced falls while patients try to go to the toilet.
Other benefits included:
- Improvements to skin health
- Calmer patients and reduced agitation
- Better sleep
Why?
Caffeine is a natural chemical with stimulant effects. This means it increases activity in your brain and nervous system. It is found in tea and coffee as well as many other products.
Decaf tea or coffee is where the caffeine is removed from the coffee beans or tea leaves. It may still contain very low levels depending on how it was produced.
Having an overactive bladder means that people may experience:
- Urgency
- Frequent need to go
- Waking during the night to wee
Caffeine can make this worse as it can irritate the bladder.
By reducing that sudden urge to wee, it helps reduce the risk of falling. This can happen when rushing to reach the toilet in time.
Other benefits of switching to decaffeinated tea or coffee include:
- Improved sleep
- Reducing noticeable / irregular heartbeats (palpitations)
- Helping prevent dehydration and headaches
- Reducing indigestion
- Reduced risk of a condition that weakens bones (osteoporosis), as high levels of caffeine prevents absorption of calcium
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