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Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

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Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#11

Post by Lorenzo45 »

delbel wrote: post #9

I recently went 60 days without coffee and had only one cup of tea or chai a day. Basically my productivity went down. Then one day, out of desperation to get work done, drank a single cup of strong coffee and subsequently had mild insomnia that night, but, my productivity levels went up. I really enjoyed the coffee so I went out and bought some very light trader joe's beans and some decaf. I mix the two. I don't hav…

This is what I'm afraid of, missing out on potential productivity. There may be a difference between people who stop drinking coffee regularly versus people who never started, but I agree that there is a good balance that can be attained with coffee.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#12

Post by methodover »

Are we starting to worry about freaking coffee intake now?!

If you like coffee, drink it. If you have problems with insomnia, try cutting it. If it helps, there you go, you get to decide if coffee is more important to you than insomnia. Most people probably won't get insomnia from drinking coffee.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#13

Post by goldbeck »

Preeeeetty much everyone in our society drinks caffeine [citation needed]. Personally, I find a significant difference in my level of focus between a day in which I had a cup of coffee in the morning and one in which I did not. This is true for me regardless of any dependence.

My advice is to keep tabs on how much you're consuming and consider to giving yourself off days when there isn't work to be done. Definitely try and get a good night's sleep too (coffee late in the day isn't great for this, so worth keeping that in mind).

Most importantly, figure out what works well for you.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#14

Post by Lorenzo45 »

goldbeck wrote: post #13

Preeeeetty much everyone in our society drinks caffeine [citation needed]. Personally, I find a significant difference in my level of focus between a day in which I had a cup of coffee in the morning and one in which I did not. This is true for me regardless of any dependence. My advice is to keep tabs on how much you're consuming and consider to giving yourself off days when there isn't work to be done. Definitely t…

This is the answer I was looking for, thanks! I'm thinking the long-term productivity increase from small amounts of coffee is certainly attainable without developing any major side effects.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#15

Post by caw »

I'm going to add my anecdata in here -- mid 20s, and I do not consume caffeine. I don't drink coffee, tea, or soda regularly. Nor do I drink energy drinks. No caffeine isn't a new thing, I've just never really drank it.

I haven't tried drinking caffeine regularly enough that I can tell whether there's a productivity boost to taking it. I'd like to say I'm pretty productive -- previous job was ranking me in top review buckets for my pay grade(s) for multiple years.

One thing I've noticed is that I'm a morning person, my best hours are 8am-12pm. Most of my coworkers (coffee drinkers) are afternoon people. Not sure if that's a trend or just programmer biases. I have noticed that pretty much all of my caffeine consuming co-workers need to have their coffee before I can ask them anything mildly complex. That could just be ritualistic behavior (get into work, make coffee, don't think about work until then), but could also be caffeine dependency.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#16

Post by altcognito »

Lorenzo45 wrote: post #14
goldbeck wrote: post #13

Preeeeetty much everyone in our society drinks caffeine [citation needed]. Personally, I find a significant difference in my level of focus between a day in which I had a cup of coffee in the morning and one in which I did not. This is true for me regardless of any dependence. My advice is to keep tabs on how much you're consuming and consider to giving yourself off days when there isn't work to be done. Definitely t…

This is the answer I was looking for, thanks! I'm thinking the long-term productivity increase from small amounts of coffee is certainly attainable without developing any major side effects.

Remember that the productivity will tail off as your resistance increases as well. You're probably better off exercising and taking in moderate amounts of caffeine from time to time.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#17

Post by ivraatiems »

I'll add my voice here to those who don't drink caffeine. It's not that I have specifically avoided it, but I never picked up the habit, and I've never found a particular benefit when I have tried it.

In my opinion, the idea that more work is better work is one of the great misconceptions of modern, Western culture (it's not a universal one, I know, but it certainly applies in a lot of places). If caffeine would allow me to do some not insignificant but not enormous amount more, but otherwise makes my life less pleasant through reliance on it, withdrawal symptoms, lack of sleep and cost, then I'm not terribly inclined to bother.

Re: Ask HN: What's better for long-run productivity: caffeine or no caffeine?

#20

Post by mcgoo »

altcognito wrote: post #16
Lorenzo45 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the answer I was looking for, thanks! I'm thinking the long-term productivity increase from small amounts of coffee is certainly attainable without developing any major side effects.

Remember that the productivity will tail off as your resistance increases as well. You're probably better off exercising and taking in moderate amounts of caffeine from time to time.

This. For me, exercise is the gift that keeps giving.

Caffeine works for a couple of days and then becomes a requirement. Any ongoing benefit is difficult to discern.

There are other things that make a huge difference to productivity for me :- - have a plan for the day - make sure to work on stuff that is actually important - look back at the day and see where time was wasted or I went off track and think about how to do better next time - stop working at a fixed time (with a little leeway if I am really in the zone and enjoying it.) This leaves me excited to get to work in the morning. Scheherazade effect :-)

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