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Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#41

Post by icebraining »

ranko wrote: post #25
4ad wrote: post #8

I drink a lot of tea. About 1 liter a day as a baseline, but if I do some ultrahike or something I can easily drink 3 liters a day. Sometimes for some reason it's really hard to drink my tea (e.g. I'm in a hotel that doesn't have drinkable tea), so I tried to substitute with other caffeine products. Unfortunately I couldn't find out any reliable data on the caffeine content of the tea that I drink. All the informatio…

Can't help with the caffeine content, but I agree that there's a vast difference between good and bad tea. I particularly detest places that use a teabag and add milk before removing the bag. As George Orwell put it, "the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes" http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm

What's the issue with adding the milk before removing the bag?

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#42

Post by ekianjo »

_ak wrote: post #20
euroclydon wrote: post #5

Surely there’s a better drug than coffee for staying awake for a long time.

The Germans used metamphetamine during World War 2. They gave it nicknames Panzerschokolade ("tank chocolate"), Stuka-Tabletten ("Stuka tablets"), Herman-Göring-Pillen, or Flieger-Marzipan ("pilot's marzipan"). It was freely available under the brand name "Pervitin" until 1941. From then on, you needed a prescription in order to purchase it.

The Japanese also had similar drugs in free circulation during ww2 if I remember correctly.

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#43

Post by derekdahmer »

L_226 wrote: post #14
euroclydon wrote: post #5

Surely there’s a better drug than coffee for staying awake for a long time.

Modafinil - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil

I keep Modafinil around for emergencies. For example, after getting caught in traffic driving back from a weekend vacation and now its midnight with two hours left to go and you can feel yourself fighting to keep your eyelids open, it'll get you home safely.

However while Modafinil will keep you awake, it doesn't mitigate the downsides of being sleep deprived. At 4am you'll still be irritable, burnt out and not make good decisions. Regular sleep is really the only medicine.

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#44

Post by baldfat »

Trick: Boost your adrenaline by doing exercise before drinking down the caffeine.

I learned that caffeine makes adrenaline last longer by blocking it receptors in college. https://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine4.htm

My trick is no adrenaline no caffeine effect. I would do 10 push ups or run around my car a few times and then drink down the caffeine and that changed everything.

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#46

Post by awinder »

nottorp wrote: post #45

How about, you know, sleeping? Working in a startup isn't being parachuted behind the enemy lines where your life depends on staying alert. Go home, you'll work better tomorrow.

Caffeine got me through maaany sleepless nights with my daughter for the first year or so. Sometimes in life you lose the luxury of choice in sleep ;-).

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#47

Post by hawkice »

baldfat wrote: post #44

Trick: Boost your adrenaline by doing exercise before drinking down the caffeine. I learned that caffeine makes adrenaline last longer by blocking it receptors in college. https://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine4.htm My trick is no adrenaline no caffeine effect. I would do 10 push ups or run around my car a few times and then drink down the caffeine and that changed everything.

Isn't the half-life of adrenaline like 90 seconds? Wouldn't you be a nervous wreck if it lasted much longer?

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#48

Post by kd5bjo »

4ad wrote: post #8

I drink a lot of tea. About 1 liter a day as a baseline, but if I do some ultrahike or something I can easily drink 3 liters a day. Sometimes for some reason it's really hard to drink my tea (e.g. I'm in a hotel that doesn't have drinkable tea), so I tried to substitute with other caffeine products. Unfortunately I couldn't find out any reliable data on the caffeine content of the tea that I drink. All the informatio…

The real question isn't how much caffeine do the tea leaves contain, but how much of it migrates into the water during steeping. My understanding is that the preparation of the tea (drying process, water temperature, steeping time, first vs second infusion, etc) has as much to do with the final caffeine content as the leaves themselves.

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#49

Post by wongarsu »

andai wrote: post #26
4ad wrote: post #8

I drink a lot of tea. About 1 liter a day as a baseline, but if I do some ultrahike or something I can easily drink 3 liters a day. Sometimes for some reason it's really hard to drink my tea (e.g. I'm in a hotel that doesn't have drinkable tea), so I tried to substitute with other caffeine products. Unfortunately I couldn't find out any reliable data on the caffeine content of the tea that I drink. All the informatio…

That is interesting about the thermometer! I noticed my tea always tastes like ass if I use boiling water, so now I add a bit of cold water after it boils. What is the optimum temperature?

It depends on the tee. Most green tea advises to use 70°C water.

A good approximation of that is taking 2/3 boiling water and 1/3 tap water (if you have 10°C tap water that works out to exactly 70°C). Don't forget stirring before adding it to tea, to make sure it's well mixed.

For optimal results obviously read the packaging of your tea and use a thermometer.

Re: Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss

#50

Post by awinder »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #28
jillesvangurp wrote: post #19

Club mate is the drink of choice in the start up community in Berlin. I've made the mistake of drinking that in the evening a couple of times and regretted that at 4am by being wide awake and unproductive the next day. If you are not familiar, mate tea which this is based on contains a form of caffeine that is particularly potent. It's like drinking multiple espresso shots. Don't drink this if you have blood pressure…

"restrict myself to mornings only" Do yourself a favour and take the next step. Stop ingesting daily and reserve coffee for sleep emergencies and medicinal purposes. Even a single daily cup of coffee is enough to build a tolerance to it. Besides affecting alertness, caffeine is also a very effective way of increasing the potency of many drugs. For me, Advil by itself has little effect, but in combination with caffein…

I believe that is a factor of caffeine increasing blood flow, leading to quicker delivery within the body
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