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Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

impudent.org.uk

21–30 of 58 posts

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#21
post #18

ADHD is often resolved paradoxically with stimulants. For me, caffeine is a natural alternative to ADHD medication. A small amount of coffee, twice a day, allows me to focus intensely. Folks with ADHD aside...optimizing caffeine intake seems to be the key to avoiding the nasty side-effects.

Fascinating point.

Then does that mean that being more focused without coffee means I am low on the ADHD spectrum?

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#22

I give up coffee every year for at least 40 days. It takes at least two weeks to start being as productive again, but after that cooling off period my productivity begins to rise. I have more energy in the evenings and sleep less. +1 for the give up coffee advice. My 40 days is in observance of the Christian Lent period. I'm not Christian, but the 40 day stretch is as good of period as any to make a change in your li…

So, if this is good advice, why do you return to the coffee habit?

I'm in the same pattern. After I have given up coffee for a few months, one coffee is enough to get me addicted again. It's so much more potent.

It's worth quitting just to go back to it. I seriously love falling off the wagon.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#23
I used to drink a couple cups of coffee a day, but felt jittery and then had some pretty intense lows that made it hard to focus and enjoy work. I replaced that with a couple cups of green or oolong tea a day and it's done wonders for me in terms of jitters and lows. No long do I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin or like I just want to take a nap while trying to concentrate on what I'm doing.

I highly recommend trying some tea if this sounds familiar. Green and oolong tea have significantly less caffeine in them than coffee, and it's just as fun, if not more, picking out good teas as it is picking out good coffee.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#24
post #12

I gave up coffee a while ago, it was fantastic. I always thought that it never affected my sleep, but the difference in how I sleep then and now is incredible. And yeah, I no longer have the after lunch down. What I really couldn't kick was the habit of actually drinking the stuff. So I drink decaf now. Think it tastes different? I demand a double blind test. It tastes fine.

I had a situation present itself that though it wasn't perfectly controlled could pass off for a double blind test. I was with friends and one went to get some coffee for both her and myself. The moment she put both coffees on the table she excused herself and took her phone out of the pocket to answer it.

I didn't know which was which (as I drink decaf because of genetic marker rs762551 that says I'm not metabolizing caffeine properly). So I thought how great this would be to test the difference between the two.

Both were Arabica and I was able to differentiate between the two with or without milk and sugar. The decaf version (I asked afterwards) was decaffeinated using the swiss process.

I cannot guarantee that both beans were the same even if they were both Arabica so it might just be that the beans were different.

My conclusion was that one of the two tasted sharper and more bitter. When she came back she told me which coffee was decaf and it was the one that didn't have the sharpness to it (or at least much less of it)

When I went home I googled to learn the taste of caffeine itself and the first hit I got was a site describing it as a sharp bitter taste.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#25
post #23

I used to drink a couple cups of coffee a day, but felt jittery and then had some pretty intense lows that made it hard to focus and enjoy work. I replaced that with a couple cups of green or oolong tea a day and it's done wonders for me in terms of jitters and lows. No long do I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin or like I just want to take a nap while trying to concentrate on what I'm doing. I highly recomm…

Thanks for sharing.

But be aware that black tea and green tea often have the same caffeine content. The trick is to make your tea weak.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#28
post #24
post #12

I gave up coffee a while ago, it was fantastic. I always thought that it never affected my sleep, but the difference in how I sleep then and now is incredible. And yeah, I no longer have the after lunch down. What I really couldn't kick was the habit of actually drinking the stuff. So I drink decaf now. Think it tastes different? I demand a double blind test. It tastes fine.

I had a situation present itself that though it wasn't perfectly controlled could pass off for a double blind test. I was with friends and one went to get some coffee for both her and myself. The moment she put both coffees on the table she excused herself and took her phone out of the pocket to answer it. I didn't know which was which (as I drink decaf because of genetic marker rs762551 that says I'm not metabolizin…

This had made me realise I have never tried decaf.

I will go and buy some and see if I like it.

Thanks.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#29
post #18

ADHD is often resolved paradoxically with stimulants. For me, caffeine is a natural alternative to ADHD medication. A small amount of coffee, twice a day, allows me to focus intensely. Folks with ADHD aside...optimizing caffeine intake seems to be the key to avoiding the nasty side-effects.

Fascinating point. Then does that mean that being more focused without coffee means I am low on the ADHD spectrum?

Perhaps. Although even the experts don't fully understand ADHD.

Most people don't know where they fall on the ADHD spectrum. Maybe that's one of the reasons why there's such a mixed opinion on whether caffeine is good or bad when it comes to focusing.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#30
post #23

I used to drink a couple cups of coffee a day, but felt jittery and then had some pretty intense lows that made it hard to focus and enjoy work. I replaced that with a couple cups of green or oolong tea a day and it's done wonders for me in terms of jitters and lows. No long do I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin or like I just want to take a nap while trying to concentrate on what I'm doing. I highly recomm…

Thanks for sharing. But be aware that black tea and green tea often have the same caffeine content. The trick is to make your tea weak.

Some stats comparing caffeine content in tea.

http://www.stashtea.com/caffeine+and+tea.aspx

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