Coffee

coffee is a stimulant. it heigthen your senses and makes you think quicker. if youve ever played a fps after a cup of coffee it makes you a bit sharper, same with competitive sports. the down side is too much of it can cause you to have trouble sleeping, increases anxiety, and nervousness, and makes you go to the bathroom a lot as its a dieretic.

and you quickly build up a tolerance, and you will require more and more to get the same effect, and it can actually make you TIRED after a while (happens to me).

It makes me lightheaded, though, and I don''t like that. feels like my head is about to roll off my shoulders.

i should also add that caffeine is highly addictive. its difficult to stop because it gives you withdrawal headaches, and because its not that harmful its easy to say "ill have a quick cup of coffee/tea"

This is interesting, though, because I regularly compete in programming contests. Do you think that caffiene should be considered a performance enhancing drug (I have never used it as such, I usually just abstain from consumption during contests)?

I made it my new years resolution to not drink soda any more (because of caffiene & too much sugar), and I never drank coffee before, so I have been caffiene free for 2 months now. At first in January I had withdrawl headaches, but it eventually went away. I don''t fall asleep any better than I did before; however, I have noticed it saves me a bunch of money. (Getting a soda at work would cost me 65 cents each time, and at restaurants it could be up to $1.50.)

Let me tell you, it''s been really tough to program without soda. It is more difficult to focus. I had made such a habit of drinking soda and programming that it is hard to do one without the other.

I usually drink caffiene free soda. I would also drink diet (i.e. sugar free) soda, but I can''t stand the taste.

It''s interesting, I can''t tell the difference between caffiene free and caffiene rich soda, but I can tell the difference between diet and non-diet. However, I have friends that are the exact opposite, able to tell between caffienated and decaf, but not between diet and regular.

Maybe my problem is that I''ve built an immunity... Hrmm, I do feel like I''ve been much less intelligent ''recently'' =-/
Maybe I need to go from 6/7 sodas a day to a like number of Bawls

I can stop at any time. Really. Just watch me. No, I''m serious. I can stop at any time!

Besides... it''s not like I''m not HEAVILY insomniac already.

I remember when I first took coffee. I was... 14, on a long code streak. The kind where you pull all-nighters. Well, after day I was completely wiped out and started feeling sleepy in the afternoon. A little light went on in my brain: "I need coffee!" And thus, the programmer within began to truly awaken.

I went downstairs, grabbed the pot of grounds, and... ate a spoonfull. Heh.

It worked though. And now I drink coffee partly out of habit, partly because I like the taste (I actually do; black coffee, columbian being my favorite), and partly because despite being immune to the effects of caffeine (maybe...), it relaxes me and helps me bond with the fine art of programming.

We need a national Coffee day.

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Original post by asdasd12345
i should also add that caffeine is highly addictive. its difficult to stop because it gives you withdrawal headaches, and because its not that harmful its easy to say "ill have a quick cup of coffee/tea"

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Caffeine is only addictive to a small percentage of the population. To everyone else it is not at all addictive and many of the side effects don''t occur.

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Original post by flangazor
Caffeine is only addictive to a small percentage of the population. To everyone else it is not at all addictive and many of the side effects don''t occur.

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Bull plop!

Caffeine is a mind altering substance, and will have an effect on anyone who consumes it.

Not everyone will become psychologicaly addicted to it, but this is true of any drug.

I''m addicted to caffeine, and I don''t have a problem with it. But if someone else were to try to force me to quit drinking caffeine, I wouldn''t put my money on them surviving the encounter. Caffeine POWER!

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Original post by Willm

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Original post by flangazor
Caffeine is only addictive to a small percentage of the population. To everyone else it is not at all addictive and many of the side effects don't occur.

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Bull plop!

Caffeine is a mind altering substance, and will have an effect on anyone who consumes it.

Not everyone will become psychologicaly addicted to it, but this is true of any drug.

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Every experience you have is mind altering. Implying that caffeine is bad[1] because it is "mind altering" is propaganda geared to strike fear in people's minds.

[1]As one does when one calls my assertion, "Bull plop."

[edited by - flangazor on March 1, 2004 9:47:21 AM]

Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors, preventing you from "dropping gears" in order to sleep. Because adenosine slows down neural activity, caffeine will also make you think "faster".

I understand that after long enough exposure to caffeine, your brain activates new adenosine receptors in an effort to force you to go to sleep.

My brother and cousin both have ADD, and for them caffeine actually had the opposite effect as it does for most people. My brother would drink a can of Coke right before bed and it would calm him down. My cousin started drinking coffee when she was about 13 and it really used to calm her down.

You''re thinking of amphetamines, not caffeine. Amphetamines bring the neurotransmitter levels in the brain of someone with ADD up to a normal level.

Or maybe your cousins are different, because caffeine could only possibly serve to make ADHD worse by blocking the litte adenosine that exists in their brain.

psychology was always a favorite subject of mine, it''s sort of like figuring out how to program for the operating system known as "the brain".

Aren''t you the guy who got the MS internship? Don''t you dare program MY brain... You''re jaded.

If you weren''t that guy... hi.

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Original post by TSwitch
You''re thinking of amphetamines, not caffeine. Amphetamines bring the neurotransmitter levels in the brain of someone with ADD up to a normal level.

Or maybe your cousins are different, because caffeine could only possibly serve to make ADHD worse by blocking the litte adenosine that exists in their brain.

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*shrugs*

I dunno, maybe it was a placebo effect? Or it may just have been there bodies being different, and nothing to do with ADHD.