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The false god of coffee

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61–70 of 102 posts

Re: The false god of coffee

#61

I've been experimenting with coffee for a few years now, but I've never tried to quantify my results quite like the author did. I've been everywhere from 1 cup a day to gross overconsumption. In the end, coffee doesn't seem to significantly impact my concentration. If I get 8 hours of sleep, don't drink any alcohol the day before, and stay hydrated, I can be productive no matter how much coffee I drink. Even more, I…

The body adjusts to a large degree.. I could drink a coffee and easily fall asleep, when I was drinking 6 cups per day.

Re: The false god of coffee

#62
post #6

Caffeine is a mixed blessing. It is a stimulant, which helps you wake up. But your body compensates for the expectation of stimulation. Which means that a coffee drinker after coffee is about like a non-coffee drinker without coffee.

So then all things being equal, you're better off with the coffee. You get to enjoy the delicious taste of coffee and yet be 'normal' like a non-coffee drinker afterwards :)

Re: The false god of coffee

#63
post #25

Coffee isn't a drug or something. I love the taste of it. But I have done my research and know of studies that have shown that coffee has adverse effects on cognitive capabilities. So I drink coffee during meetings in order to stay awake but never when I have something important to do that requires all my concentration.

"Coffee isn't a drug _or something_". lol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugs First picture caption: "Coffee is the most widely used psychotropic beverage in the world. In 1999 the average consumption of coffee was 3.5 cups per day per U.S. citizen." Caffeine is a CNS stimulant\adenosine receptor antagonist. It increases wakefulness\helps focused thought but impairs memory. It's a stimulant drug, not a very good stim…

Well, if wikipedia says so, it must be true.

Re: The false god of coffee

#64
post #62
post #6

Caffeine is a mixed blessing. It is a stimulant, which helps you wake up. But your body compensates for the expectation of stimulation. Which means that a coffee drinker after coffee is about like a non-coffee drinker without coffee.

So then all things being equal, you're better off with the coffee. You get to enjoy the delicious taste of coffee and yet be 'normal' like a non-coffee drinker afterwards :)

But all other things are not equal. When I drank coffee I had to constantly manage my addiction or I'd get headaches. Now that I have no addiction I get fewer headaches.

Re: The false god of coffee

#65
post #10

I dunno. I drink coffee because it good.

Home roast, decent grinder, and a press pot... Doesn't get much better... While I do drink coffee for the caffeine (and experience withdrawal symptoms without it), a substantial motivation is that I simply enjoy the flavor of a properly made cup of coffee.

When I stopped drinking caffeinated coffee, I lost my taste for coffee, but developed a great interest in tea.

Re: The false god of coffee

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Home roast, decent grinder, and a press pot... Doesn't get much better... While I do drink coffee for the caffeine (and experience withdrawal symptoms without it), a substantial motivation is that I simply enjoy the flavor of a properly made cup of coffee.

"a press pot" Try a Chemex: http://www.chemexcoffeemaker.com/ . It's not as bitter.

An Aeropress is awesome, too. Cheap ($25), easy to clean, makes fantastic coffee.

Re: The false god of coffee

#68
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Coffee isn't a drug _or something_". lol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drugs First picture caption: "Coffee is the most widely used psychotropic beverage in the world. In 1999 the average consumption of coffee was 3.5 cups per day per U.S. citizen." Caffeine is a CNS stimulant\adenosine receptor antagonist. It increases wakefulness\helps focused thought but impairs memory. It's a stimulant drug, not a very good stim…

Well, if wikipedia says so, it must be true.

[deleted]

Re: The false god of coffee

#69
post #4

I love the tracking of productivity idea. It's interesting, I also frequently use coffee to 'concentrate', but a little differently than you. I'll have tea or sometimes coffee in the morning (one cup) and if I'm not sleep deprived, that's it. If I need to work or focus on a task in the afternoon, I'll get a large coffee, clear my area of all distractions, get comfortable and try and crank through for as long as it ta…

How did you notice/know you were having serious blood sugar problems?

He probably checked by other means, but mood swings are a good hint.

Re: The false god of coffee

#70
post #61

I've been experimenting with coffee for a few years now, but I've never tried to quantify my results quite like the author did. I've been everywhere from 1 cup a day to gross overconsumption. In the end, coffee doesn't seem to significantly impact my concentration. If I get 8 hours of sleep, don't drink any alcohol the day before, and stay hydrated, I can be productive no matter how much coffee I drink. Even more, I…

The body adjusts to a large degree.. I could drink a coffee and easily fall asleep, when I was drinking 6 cups per day.

Quote: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm

As it has a profound effect on the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine is widely used to tackle drowsiness. However, majority of people little realize that it works well in your struggle with the adenosine-related homeostatic component of sleepiness, while it is quite inefficient in overcoming circadian sleepiness! Moreover, used against the latter, it can actually be quite unhealthy!

If you abuse caffeine or use it at the time when your body clock tells you bedtime, you will only experience the symptoms that gave caffeine all that bad rap. These include: heart arrhythmia, irritability, overwhelming tiredness, depression, and a typical coffee abuser's "sickness in the stomach". No wonder the popular myth says that coffee is bad for health and can contribute to a heart disease.

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