Caffeine can kill your productivity!

[garyfritz]

I never developed a caffeine habit -- because basically it doesn't work on me. Once I tried making a quad-shot of espresso (about 250mg caffeine) and downing it, didn't notice a thing. So since it has no effect on me, and frankly it tastes nasty and bitter until you get used to it, there was no reason to drink coffee.

But I've always had low energy levels. Maybe if I drink enough joe ...

 

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[MTF]

What about tea without caffeine? I normally only drink green tea without caffeine ( for anti allergic purposes).

Decaffeinated tea has much fewer health benefits so I don't think it's worth the trade-off.

 

[Thoelt53]

I never developed a caffeine habit -- because basically it doesn't work on me. Once I tried making a quad-shot of espresso (about 250mg caffeine) and downing it, didn't notice a thing. So since it has no effect on me, and frankly it tastes nasty and bitter until you get used to it, there was no reason to drink coffee.

But I've always had low energy levels. Maybe if I drink enough joe ...

Ever been diagnosed with ADHD?

 

[garyfritz]

Ever been diagnosed with ADHD?

Yes, as a matter of fact. Though it was an informal diagnosis by a therapist / marriage counselor, not a psychologist. And I definitely show the signs. It's one of the main things that keeps me from trying to launch a Fastlane business -- I suck at staying focused on something like that.

Why? Does ADHD tend to cause or correlate with caffeine insensitivity?

 

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[DustinH]

Buy a Purple mattress if you can. (They offer financing) Upgrade your pillows, make your room as dark and noise free as possible at night. You want to be stone cold dead in the water asleep.

Also, don't forget to install the Ideal Sleep Solutions and Zonk Strategies from the Purple Boys. @MJ DeMarco knows what I'm talking about.

 

[TheOrchestrator]

Yes, as a matter of fact. Though it was an informal diagnosis by a therapist / marriage counselor, not a psychologist. And I definitely show the signs. It's one of the main things that keeps me from trying to launch a Fastlane business -- I suck at staying focused on something like that.

Why? Does ADHD tend to cause or correlate with caffeine insensitivity?

Yes, but the "insensitivity" comes from the fact that people with ADHD tend to build tolerance to caffeine faster than everyone else, due to their addictive tendencies. See, caffeine gives you the dopamine hits you need to get moving, but the problem is that, with ADHD, you never produce enough dopamine, so you get addicted to the thing that gives you the hit, and you quickly build a tolerance to it, causing you to need more and more just to maintain a normal baseline state. That's why people with yet-to-be-diagnosed ADHD can often be found downing gallons of caffeinated drinks daily just to get to baseline-level, even after getting 8 hours of sleep. This is the reason for meds like Ritalin and Adderal, which provide many people with enough stimulation to bring themselves to a "normal" enough state to function optimally.

My recommendation is to start reducing one's need for caffeine period, and find more natural alternatives. Sleep and good nutrition is so obvious that there's no point in going into all of the ridiculous benefits you get from good, super high quality sleep. However, people don't seem to talk about how things like intense, adrenaline pumping exercise, such as HIIT, boxing/martial arts, or even dancing, can do for you in this regard. Multiple short, intense bursts of exercise throughout the day can do wonders, and it can even increase the quality of your sleep at night. Feeling sluggish? Resist the urge to slam another coffee, 5-hour, or Redbull, and instead step OUTSIDE, and start running, or find a jungle gym, and hit the pullups. If you are at the office and can't do that, then find a private office space and slam some quick sets of pushups. Get the heart pumping and the blood flowing. Sure, it will be hard to do this consistently at the beginning, but once you get to the point of doing this stuff multiple times a day while staying well-rested, well-fed, crazy hydrated, and maintain a low distraction lifestyle, ditching the coffee won't be so hard anymore.

And yes, I have ADHD.

 

[garyfritz]

Yes, but the "insensitivity" comes from the fact that people with ADHD tend to build tolerance to caffeine faster than everyone else, due to their addictive tendencies.

That doesn't apply to me. Possibly because I have the non-hyperactive form of ADD, but caffeine does almost nothing to me. I haven't built a tolerance to caffeine because I never USED it. I got no benefit from it so I avoided it. I'd guess I've had no more than 3-4 caffeinated drinks per year.

 

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[TheOrchestrator]

That doesn't apply to me. Possibly because I have the non-hyperactive form of ADD, but caffeine does almost nothing to me. I haven't built a tolerance to caffeine because I never USED it. I got no benefit from it so I avoided it. I'd guess I've had less than one caffeinated drink per year.

Okay, my mistake in making assumptions.

But it is important to note that, regardless of whatever form of ADHD you have, what is common among everyone who has ADHD is generally believed to be dopamine in-deficiency (ADHD is now unofficially considered a catch-all for all forms of the condition. The acronym, "ADD" is becoming less used, so please don't take my inclusion of the "H" as an implication that I don't believe you when you say you don't suffer from hyperactiveness!). So if you have ADHD, it's still possible for some people to not get dopamine hits from caffeine, just like some people with ADHD don't do well on stimulants like Ritalin, Concerta, or Adderall. Those people tend to be given non-stimulants as an alternative.

Without going off on a tangent on chemicals, I'm only trying to imply that having "insensitivity" to certain stimulants, (like caffeine) by default, is not inconsistent with having ADHD. Some ADHDers tend to start off with a smaller degree of insensitivity and build a higher tolerance to it, while others don't seem to get anything at all from it by default.

 

[garyfritz]

That fits. I've tried a dose or two of Ritalin, and I think Adderall, and felt nothing. But I think I fit into the "dopamine insensitivity / insufficiency / whatever" bucket. I've always been fairly phelgmatic and low-energy and I show other signs of dopamine shortage. I can have fun with friends and laugh and have a great time (esp with a bit of alcohol to loosen me up) but it's not my default state.

I don't know if that suggests other non-stimulant approaches to treating the ADD. I was never really a fan of the drug approach so I never had an actual doctor treat me.

 

[Readerly]

I used to drink 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day, every day, for 30 years. I quit in August. The first week was rough. I felt sluggish, foggy-headed. I got severe muscle cramps in my knees and hips. But after about a week, all the withdrawal symptoms dissipated.

Since quitting, when I wake up in the morning at 5 am, I no longer feel as grouchy and down as I used to. I also don't get as sleepy in the late afternoon. In general, my mood is more even keeled. I'm glad I quit, to be honest.

It's also just a good exercise to break a habit once in a while, especially a deeply-ingrained one. You remind yourself that you're capable of change.

 

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[andyhaus44]

For me, yes. Between the coffee and the workout drinks, I was doing about 300mg, maybe up to 500mg a day.

I've been off of it now for 2 weeks (cold turkey) and had a few days of withdrawals but I can report without a shadow of a doubt, I've been sleeping much better.

Great job, MJ! I believe we started around the same day, and now am at day 40 with no coffee or caffeine and I feel great. Sleeping a lot better and my vertigo is less intense.

 

[DustinH]

I'm starting no caffeine tomorrow (Tuesday 9-25-2018). I will update you guys how it goes.

Some background: I drink either two 16-oz NOS or one 24-oz NOS each day. If not that then I drink two Starbucks espresso shots. The reason I started drinking caffeine is because I've had trouble sleeping and severe bouts of tiredness throughout each day. By noon I would be extremely tired, even if I slept for 9 hours the previous night. Earlier in 2018, I went to a sleep specialist and an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist. Through a simple CT scan we figured out that I had a deviated septum and severe sinus blockage that was constricting my airways during sleep. This prevented me from getting long enough deep sleep and REM sleep because my body was working so hard to breathe.

So, I had surgery in early September to correct the deviated septum and sinus inflammation. It was a procedure that probably needed to be done 10 years ago but it didn't get bad enough til now. Three weeks later I can definitely tell a difference and I sleep better. Now that I don't necessarily need the caffeine to survive, I feel like I can quit and detox my body. I'm not looking forward to this week but I have to keep telling myself that I don't need it and I will feel 100x better.

 

[Bryan James]

Quitting can be tough. A few years ago I would drink like 10 cups a day, all throughout the day. It was like a drug addiction for me. After doing this for a few months I ended up feeling dizzy and faint and ended up in the hospital. Finally quit cold turkey and haven't had a sip since. The withdraws and desire were pretty intense but just keep going and they'll weaken and eventually disappear.

 

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[papi016]

I was taking 200 mg Caffeine pills for about 3 months eventually quit 2 days ago and the depression hit hard yesterday. The worse is over now.

 

[minivanman]

I don't drink Dr. Pepper/Coke/Pepsi/Mr. Pibb for the caffeine, I drink it because I like how it tastes. If they could make something that tasted EXACTLY like them without the caffeine, I might drink it but so far they haven't been able to..... or maybe they haven't tried.

 

[Sander]

I've never liked coffee, but been an addict to energy drinks for a couple of years now (Monster, Cult etc). Replaced the 1-2 L of energy drinks I drank daily around three weeks ago with 2-4 L of water instead.

As usual, the first couple of days was pretty hard with quiet a strong headache. But after 4-5 days, the headaches were gone, and now I feel fresh pretty much all day, or at least as fresh as I did with the energy drinks.

So if you can get through the first hard days, you realize that you can do just fine without it. Don't know if it's the same with coffee, but after reading the posts in this thread, in sounds like the same.

 

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[Areding]

Do not drink coffee for several years. After I noticed for myself that I was addicted to coffee and its detrimental effect on the body, I gradually abandoned this drink.

 

[Vanesco]

In order for coffee to affect you and increase productivity, you need to drink it regularly several times a day.

 

[Dan_Fastlane]

you should also differentiate between those short-term boosters like coffee and energy drinks and long-term smooth effects like Tea.

 

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[andyhaus44]

4 months without caffeine and my vertigo/dizziness is gone. Flew last month and for the first time in years, didn't have intense dizziness after the flight. Sleeping great and I have better energy, too.

If you're not feeling inspired to cut back or quit, this is a great video -

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_xA70lWrDs