Live data from Hacker News

Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

nature.com

91–100 of 236 posts

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only drugs that have artificially high prices caused by having no legal source lead to addicts committing crime to find their habit. Caffeine and alcohol are cheap and easily available.

With all due respect, I wouldn't commit any crimes if caffeine was suddenly illegal. I'd have headaches for a few days and that'd be it.

With all due respect, I've heard the exact same thing from a number of folks taking Opioids after surgery. They were right, fortunately, and navigated their withdrawal symptoms without incident.

I'm sure you're right too, but it's not a particularly convincing argument. I've definitely seen behaviors that horrify me from some of the caffeine addicts in my life. I bet caffeine prohibition would lead to a rise in domestic disputes, for starters, followed by Starbucks speakeasys and coffee cartels.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#92
post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

This really hit home when I started swapping caffeine out for Adderall on work days. Literal amphetamines have a more mild effect on me than a strong coffee.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#93
Caffeine does nothing for me at all, I do not get a kick when I drink coffee. It does not affect my sleep, it does not give me a boost at all. So I am a bit of jealous of those who can utilize caffeine for mental boost, I just drink it for the taste.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#94

Anyone with anxiety or sleep issues should reexamine their caffeine usage. Maybe those problems do not stem from caffeine, but maybe they do. I don't know many people that do not consume caffeine regularly, at least once a day - in such cases, you cannot know whether your anxiety, sleep problems, general tiredness, bad moods, ... are or are not caused by one's caffeine consumption. Some people swear by drinking a sho…

What about those of use who may or may not have ADD and have been using caffine to regulate our mood and focus.... I honestly can't tell at this point if the coffee is helping me focus and I have ADD or if I am just lazy(or depressed) and the coffee is helping get me motivated.

Are you sure coffee isn't causing your symptoms? Poor mood, focus, and motivation can also be caused by poor sleep.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alcohol reduces functions, caffeine clearly enhances functions. In occasional users this might be true, but is it true in regular users? Anecdotally, I hear far more people complaining about being completely unable to function (and I've often recognized that they're perceptibly out of it) until they've had their next cup of coffee than I have heard people talk about getting great productivity gains from it. I don't…

> I hear far more people complaining about being completely unable to function (and I've often recognized that they're perceptibly out of it) until they've had their next cup of coffee than I have heard people talk about getting great productivity gains from it. Unable to function == 0 productivity. How is getting over that not effecting productivity gains?

It depends on if some significant chunk of the population naturally can't function on a regular basis and caffeine solves that or if caffeine withdrawals cause someone to be unable to function until they get the next dose.

If it's withdrawals then caffeine is creating the problem that it later solves, which means that consuming it regularly is not a net productivity gain over not using or using rarely.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine makes me very sleepy if I drink it mid-day and I do in fact usually fall asleep early.

How much caffeine do you consume regularly? Sounds to me like your body potentially has too much already, and is reacting by making you drowsy. Note that caffeine is also in non-coffee/tea related beverages like sodas (e.g. Coke/Pepsi/...), or sometimes certain pain killers (e.g. migraine pain killers frequently contain something like 50mg of caffeine).

I mostly drink decaf. Not a soda drinker. Tea with sugar mostly or just plain water.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#97
post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

> highly profitable substance Yes and no. I've been a fan of caffeine pills for years. They are very cheap, readily available (portable), and most importantly to me offer completely consistent dosing. With caffeine pills I'm able to ensure I stay below the FDA recommended maximum daily intake of 400 mg (worst case). Another fun bonus - when a physician asks you what your caffeine intake is and you respond in milligra…

> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks

Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Caffeine pills are an absurdity to me because I only drink coffee for the taste. Why suffer the unwanted effects of a drug without the enjoyment that it’s supposed to come with?

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine makes me very sleepy if I drink it mid-day and I do in fact usually fall asleep early.

Exactly the same experience here. I have ADHD. Caffeine seems to give me a parallel (albeit lesser overall) experience to taking my prescribed Adderall.

Most people around me have diagnosed ADHD, makes me wonder if the reason why I'm in such a group is because I have ADHD as well, but I don't really care for medication as I never had issues handling it on my own so not planning on getting diagnosed.

And if I do, I actually prefer it since it allows me to go on for days without a break discovering solutions to very hard problems.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does cocaine temporarily boost intelligence? I thought it boosted the feeling of being intelligent.

> Does cocaine temporarily boost intelligence? I thought it boosted the feeling of being intelligent. For people who lack confidence or an ego, this may very well be the same thing. Just the urge to prove myself got me far in life. Sometimes I clearly struggle more than others, especially when surrounded by extremely smart people at university, but at the end of the day I've gotten much further than those who capitul…

There is a lot of wisdom in this comment. So many of the world’s most ‘accomplished’ people at first appear to have been born special and to be fundamentally different from the rest of us but usually aren’t; they simply got on with it and then persisted long enough to have great success. They didn’t let the little voice in their head that says they’re not as good as the others win — either because they consciously chose to fight it, or because they were lucky to be born without it at all. To that extent, some of us are born fundamentally special.

It’s so incredibly true that even if you tell someone something’s hard and it’ll take a while to get they’re still likely to give up too early and feel inferior for not ‘getting it’. This is why almost everyone (at least in the western world) thinks they “can’t do math”.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, I wouldn't commit any crimes if caffeine was suddenly illegal. I'd have headaches for a few days and that'd be it.

With all due respect, I've heard the exact same thing from a number of folks taking Opioids after surgery. They were right, fortunately, and navigated their withdrawal symptoms without incident. I'm sure you're right too, but it's not a particularly convincing argument. I've definitely seen behaviors that horrify me from some of the caffeine addicts in my life. I bet caffeine prohibition would lead to a rise in domes…

Comparing opioids to caffeine is also not a particularly convincing argument... Is your comment satire?
Post reply on HN