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Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

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Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#51

Post by jdietrich »

Switch to tea. Coffee is a markedly inferior stimulant and the only reason Americans drink as much as they do is because of a certain political skirmish over taxation.

Tea contains L-theanine, which acts synergistically with caffeine. It increases levels of dopamine as caffeine does, but also levels of GABA, helping to reduce stress and take away the jittery, distractible edge that comes with coffee drinking. If you were to sit down and design a drug to help with mentally taxing work, you'd be hard pressed to concoct something better than tea.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#52

Post by nickluft »

jdietrich wrote: post #51

Switch to tea. Coffee is a markedly inferior stimulant and the only reason Americans drink as much as they do is because of a certain political skirmish over taxation. Tea contains L-theanine, which acts synergistically with caffeine. It increases levels of dopamine as caffeine does, but also levels of GABA, helping to reduce stress and take away the jittery, distractible edge that comes with coffee drinking. If you…

But please avoid strong tea. It still has a lot of caffeine in it and tea can also hinder the absorption of iron and other long-term effects.

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

Tea has approximately half the caffeine that coffee has.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#53

Post by PatrickTulskie »

llimllib wrote: post #11

> All I ask is this. Try going without caffeine for a month. And when you have, then write to me and tell me if it did or didn't work. Didn't. I do it for about a month every year, and for me it doesn't make any difference.

I gave up coffee for Lent last year. It was the most excruciating time ever. I was irritable the whole time, I couldn't focus, and I felt like crap all of the time. It took about 3 weeks to get over the symptoms of withdrawl before I was "ok." The 4th week, I was just blah. After that, I started up with coffee again.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#54

Post by Deadsunrise »

nickluft wrote: post #50
Deadsunrise wrote: post #49

> I did this as I was eating too many cakes and buns with my coffee and was finding the down from the coffee-high was too soul-destroying in a boring desk-job. I think his problem is more related to the sugar highs and lows than the coffee itself.

Ahh the sugar high! I think this is a bit of a myth. See this: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2747/does-giving-sw... Seems like one early study made the link but the following studies cannot make the link.

you are right. I was referring to the lows and I should have stated that the "problems" are probably caused by the carbs and the blood-glucose fluctuations, not the sugar itself.

Hypoglucemia (or not being used to it) is what makes you "crash" and get hungry again after a big blood-glucose and insulin spike. In his case the improvements have probably more to do with removing the sugars than the caffeine.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#55

Post by artmageddon »

nickluft wrote: post #48
artmageddon wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Granted I'm only 28, but my relatives along with several friends are amazed at the fact that I make it a point to not drink coffee. I hate the notion of having to rely on something(y'know, aside from food and water and oxygen) specifically designed to give me a mental boost. I always figured if I was falling asleep midday it was because I was wasn't sleeping well or something of the sort. It's hard because I also wan…

Try something like meditation, exercising, taking 30 minute holidays... other non-addictive and well tested methods.

I do work out fairly regularly and try to take mental breaks(sometimes too many, haha). I just wasn't sure if there was something unique about the benefits that one gets from coffee.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#56

Post by nickluft »

PatrickTulskie wrote: post #53
llimllib wrote: post #11

> All I ask is this. Try going without caffeine for a month. And when you have, then write to me and tell me if it did or didn't work. Didn't. I do it for about a month every year, and for me it doesn't make any difference.

I gave up coffee for Lent last year. It was the most excruciating time ever. I was irritable the whole time, I couldn't focus, and I felt like crap all of the time. It took about 3 weeks to get over the symptoms of withdrawl before I was "ok." The 4th week, I was just blah. After that, I started up with coffee again.

Sounds to me like you are strongly affected by coffee. It can't be good to be so dependent on anything.

Maybe you should try giving it up more slowly in the future. Reduce in-take gradually.

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#57

Post by tony584 »

nickluft wrote: post #52
jdietrich wrote: post #51

Switch to tea. Coffee is a markedly inferior stimulant and the only reason Americans drink as much as they do is because of a certain political skirmish over taxation. Tea contains L-theanine, which acts synergistically with caffeine. It increases levels of dopamine as caffeine does, but also levels of GABA, helping to reduce stress and take away the jittery, distractible edge that comes with coffee drinking. If you…

But please avoid strong tea. It still has a lot of caffeine in it and tea can also hinder the absorption of iron and other long-term effects. http://www.stashtea.com/caffeine+and+tea.aspx Tea has approximately half the caffeine that coffee has.

Stash is making strong generalizations, try this: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and...

Re: Talismans of Productivity: Or give up coffee.

#58

Post by hamletdrc2 »

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #4
hamletdrc2 wrote: post #2

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 go back to coffee for two reasons: 1. Invariably I hit a stretch of life that requires great effort and I just /need/ a cup of coffee (last year it was a week with 2 transatlantic flights followed by a conference presentation). 2. Iced Coffee in the Summer makes life worth living. It is a true joy of life, and I always tell myself "just this one time."
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