Curious what others experiences are with caffeine.
I hate to love it. My body metabolizes caffeine slowly. There are two genes, with one caffeine’s half life is 5 hours, the other 15 minutes, I have the 5 hour gene.
So it has a strong effect for me, which also means my body adapts quickly.
I love caffeine when I’m tired, but it’s easy to get caught needing more caffeine the next day to avoid a caffeine crash.
I find it great before working out, but then hate when I get adapted to it and am stuck using some to avoid crashing.
I’d gotten down to no caffeine to start the year and was hoping to last 90 days, but chocolate got me. I’m dipping back into decaf (which is more just low caffeine) coffee. Part of me wants to put the work in (i.e. be tired) now to lose all adaptation, the other part is like screw it, just have it whenever there are limited downsides (just the crashing).
I’ve been in the same relationship with caffeine for a while. I don’t drink coffee, but was drinking diet coke pretty much every day. If I missed a couple of days the headaches were horrible.
Just recently weaned myself off of it and now I just drink water. We got a soda stream so I can do bubbles too. It’s been a month or so and I haven’t missed it much. Have had a coke a couple of times since then but haven’t felt any withdrawals.
Used to have maybe one aday. Lately, I seem to be drinking 4-5 a day. Sometimes 6. Too much.
But it doesn’t really affect me. I can, and sometimes do, have a coffee not too long before I go to bed. It’s 8:30pm and I just had one.
I do believe that caffeine content for sodas are generally printed on their packaging (albeit, you might have to hunt for it); however, coffee isn’t necessarily so labelled.
This link provides some interesting insights for coffee. I’ve extracted part of the table from that source and sorted it by general “serving size” and caffeine content within each size group (using midpoint for one with a range)
I concentrate my coffee drinking in the morning as I am a lousy sleeper and need a kickstart to the day. I go to the gym in the morning as the coffee assists me mentally and physically to do the workouts.
I found the high caffeine numbers at Starbucks interesting as I did not appreciate they were that high.
I should probably give up caffeine and a few other vices but I doubt I will.
I’m also very sensitive to caffeine. I spend more than a week tapering down before Yom kippur, so i can fast without getting a headache.
I’ve gone “clean”, and I’ve gotten messed up by drinking too much. Currently I’m drinking a pot of tea or a cup of coffee in the morning, with no caffeine except maybe a little chocolate or a decaf after noon. That seems to work well. It doesn’t interfere with my sleep, i don’t crash, and i really enjoy my morning hot beverage. Also, having a big dose in the morning means that small doses like dark chocolate don’t matter as much.
My problem is I usually exercise at night, so I don’t like doing that caffeine deficient. Having extra caffeine before means poor sleep. So no caffeine is ideal in principal, but I struggle with the practice.
I really enjoy having a morning coffee. It is one of my favorite pleasures. I have one double strength cup a day.
My sensitivity to caffeine has increased as I’ve gotten older. In my 20’s I used to occasionally enjoy an after dinner coffee. I haven’t been able to do that for a long time, as it messes up my sleep if I do that now. I stick to just my morning cup now. If I’m traveling, I’ll either get a “red eye” from a coffee shop or drink 2 cups of regular coffee.
Ah. I have never noticed much interaction between caffeine and exercise, but i also mostly exercise in the morning, or sometimes the afternoon. I don’t like to exercise after dark. I never have.
Fwiw, i don’t generally crash at night, either when i have no caffeine or when i drink it in the morning. So i guess our metabolisms and preferences are different enough that i can’t offer you much advice. People vary a great deal in how they react to all manner of drugs, as well as their diurnal cycle. So i guess my advise is to try stuff and see what works for you.
Eh, it’s not too bad of an addiction, as far as addictions go.
Just remember: it is an addiction.
I do not obsess about my caffeine addiction, nor do I rationalize it. I have one Coke Zero per day, but sometimes I see a free-refill machine and get my money’s worth, sometimes filling my exit cup with Diet Coke Free (no caffeine).
You ritually abstain from sex on Yom Kippur when you’re not Jewish? Do you focus on atonement and repentance?
I know this is also an important holiday for members of the Church of God. Not as important as Sukkot (which they call Tabernacles) but important nonetheless.
