keeping coffee effective

[rocketman]

ok, i have been experimenting for a few months now, and have concluded that my morning cup of coffee is absolutely essential for achieving maximum mental capabilities. i know the contrary is stressed ad nauseum on this board but i personally have not been able to make it work. i have completely changed my diet and lifestyle and poured through hours upon hours of articles on sleep and energy achieving incredible gains in those realms, but i still have not found a way to naturally shake the grogginess in the morning.

i have set my circadian rhythm to naturally wake me at 5AM and i am mentally energetic for the subsequent 30 minutes after morning meditation. i also find that consumption of fruit gives me a short boost. the only other thing other than coffee which has given me sustained morning wakefulness is a workout, but this isn't always a viable option due to proximity and work demands. in every other case, i find myself groggy once again an hour after awakening and yearning to return to bed with very little mental energy. thus, i have concluded the morning coffee is an absolute necessity for me.

the problem is that each dosage loses its efficacy leading to greater and greater dependency. i was taking 1 teaspoon of instant coffee for a while and then that completely lost its effect. i suspect 2 teaspoons would have the intended effect but that then triggers an endless escalation. i would continue needing more and more just to obtain the desired results. i hadn't drank coffee for over a month before today and went back to the 1 teaspoon and as expected, the full effect had returned after the layoff. but it would be pointless to continue long on-off cycles as what would you do in the off weeks? i recall reading an article online delineating a strategy to keep the caffeine effective but i can't find it anywhere. can anyone offer some advice?

[RagsToRiches]

Hey Man,

I love caffine too! It certainly has served it's purpose for me so far. Which includes but is not limited to:
Business communication
Philsophy Essays
Seducing Women
Etc...

If you want to get the effectiveness of caffeine back up, take one or two weeks completely off it.

When you go back it'll be like rocket fuel.

This fits in with the science...

From the Wiki:

"Withdrawal symptoms—possibly including headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, drowsiness, insomnia and pain in the stomach, upper body, and joints[71]—may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days, representing the time required for the number of adenosine receptors in the brain to revert to "normal" levels, uninfluenced by caffeine consumption."

R

[Gabo]

I'm very sorry that you think you need drugs to live efficiently.

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by RagsToRiches

Hey Man,

I love caffine too! It certainly has served it's purpose for me so far. Which includes but is not limited to:
Business communication
Philsophy Essays
Seducing Women
Etc...

If you want to get the effectiveness of caffeine back up, take one or two weeks completely off it.

When you go back it'll be like rocket fuel.

This fits in with the science...

From the Wiki:

"Withdrawal symptoms—possibly including headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, drowsiness, insomnia and pain in the stomach, upper body, and joints[71]—may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days, representing the time required for the number of adenosine receptors in the brain to revert to "normal" levels, uninfluenced by caffeine consumption."

R

Thanks. How long do you find each cycle lasts before you take a week off? And what do you do to stay up in that off week?

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by Gabo

I'm very sorry that you think you need drugs to live efficiently.

Spare me the self righteousness. If you search for my posts on this forum, you'll see I have gone to great lengths in attempting to circumvent this necessity.

[Savage]

Some people make the same conclusions about other drugs, including cocaine. I used to believe I had to steal something each morning to wake myself up with a jolt of adrenaline and get going for the day. I made the same rationalizations you did. If I didn't make time for shoplifting, my whole day was doomed to be a low-energy haze.

You were onto something when you realized that a morning workout is a better approach. Stop making excuses as to why you can't exercise, and just do it. If you have time to make and drink a cup of coffee, you have time to exercise. Do 5-10 minutes of calisthenics if you're pressed for time.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by rocketman

ok, i have been experimenting for a few months now, and have concluded that my morning cup of coffee is absolutely essential for achieving maximum mental capabilitiessleep and energy achieving incredible gains in those realms, but i still have not found a way to naturally shake the grogginess in the morning.

Can anyone offer some advice?

This sounds like Thomas Edison. He only slept 5 hours a night but had plenty of energy since he took the legal medication cocaine. Your body needs more sleep!

What you are describing is homeostasis. It killed Michael Jackson. Drugs cause a slingshot effect. You get a long term effect to the opposite of the short term effect. This is due to homeostasis.

My 1,900 page Mosby Medical Dictionary defines homeostasis as: "[Gk, homoios + stasis, standing still] a relative constancy in the internal environment of the body, naturally maintained by the adaptive responses that promote healthy survival. Various sensing, feedback, and control mechanisms function to effect this steady state."

Jackson slept OK on 2 medications, but they stopped working since the body was doing its job. So the doctor had to add a 3rd more powerful drug and he had tried some others that did not work. The combination that the doctor gave him to get him to go to sleep killed him.

I had a friend Naomi that was given a daily dosage of Methadone (medication for serious heroin addiction) that would kill the average person. But her friend was not average. He was a heavy drug user and begged her to try her methadone. She gave in and was convicted of manslaughter. The amount that she took daily, killed him. Try some green or white tea or yerba mate (Jesuit tea). Have you tried a cold shower? You can take that after the exercise suggested by Pavlina.

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Do 5-10 minutes of calisthenics if you're pressed for time.

Interesting. Ironically I had actually considered this for a while during a certain phase in my research but ruled it out as not being rigorous enough to trigger endorphins. But I possibly wasn't doing enough. Have you found that pushups/situps suffice to give one the desired jolt?

[BoneLazy]

Hello Rocketman

Although I love my coffee as well (have an espresso machine at home) i have found that given 5-10 minute time frame to exercise can provide just the same boost.

I'm not sure if it will produce endorphins but it will wake you up.
In a word: Burpee's.
If you can do these consecutively at a fast pace for more than three minutes then your one fit man. When your burnt out after doing these skip rope as quickly as possible until your time limit runs out.

Cheers

[Savage]

Originally Posted by rocketman

Interesting. Ironically I had actually considered this for a while during a certain phase in my research but ruled it out as not being rigorous enough to trigger endorphins. But I possibly wasn't doing enough. Have you found that pushups/situps suffice to give one the desired jolt?

You can do a lot more than just push-ups and sit-ups, and you can do them in 5-10 minute breaks throughout the day. But I prefer about 60 minutes of exercise to start the day. That gives a bigger boost that lasts longer.

But in a pinch, do some kind of basic exercise to get your heart pumping. That's a lot better than drugging yourself.

If you have to choose between meditation and exercise, skip the meditation, and make exercise your daily meditation instead.

[bluedragon]

I personally find that stretching myself helps put the blood into motion (not a lot of stretching, just your basic extending your arms and your legs while still in bed, and then getting up and doing some more. I drink green tea which is much better than coffee I think, and I drink a few glasses of water.

What also helps tremendously is a half a lemon squeezed in a glass of water. It wakes me up faster than coffee, and I've heard other people report the same.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I used to believe I had to steal something each morning to wake myself up with a jolt of adrenaline and get going for the day. I made the same rationalizations you did. If I didn't make time for shoplifting, my whole day was doomed to be a low-energy haze.

Lol! That's hilarious! You were like the master thief. If you hadn't given up that career, maybe you would be like the guys in Ocean's Eleven now

[Vantage72]

@ rocketman, have you considered you may not be getting enough sleep?

Another idea that is very popular on these fora is sleeping as little as possible and waking up as early as possible. As far as I know most scientific research seems to indicate the opposite: the more sleep the better.

I can understand your problem by the way, living without caffeine is not easy for me. I'm very slowly getting better at it.

[bluedragon]

No matter how good coffee tastes, how interesting is to drink it and how it makes you think you feel, the most "effective" thing would be to remove this habit and replace it with a more productive one, especially in the long run. As humans, we have the ability to start liking what is good for us, instead of doing what gives us pleasure even if it may be harmful.

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

What also helps tremendously is a half a lemon squeezed in a glass of water. It wakes me up faster than coffee, and I've heard other people report the same.

Interesting you suggest this. I have actually read of people doing this but never tried it myself.

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

You can do a lot more than just push-ups and sit-ups, and you can do them in 5-10 minute breaks throughout the day. But I prefer about 60 minutes of exercise to start the day. That gives a bigger boost that lasts longer.

But in a pinch, do some kind of basic exercise to get your heart pumping. That's a lot better than drugging yourself.

If you have to choose between meditation and exercise, skip the meditation, and make exercise your daily meditation instead.

My exercise consists of an hour of intense weight training. Problem is that now that I am home, the gym I go to is a 20 minute drive. When I go back to school, the campus gym won't be a problem, and when I have my own home, I will purchase my own equipment. For now though, I will try the calisthenics.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by rocketman

My exercise consists of an hour of intense weight training. Problem is that now that I am home, the gym I go to is a 20 minute drive. When I go back to school, the campus gym won't be a problem, and when I have my own home, I will purchase my own equipment. For now though, I will try the calisthenics.

There are tons of body weight exercises you can use to create a varied workout. Use Google to find them.

[moonrambler]

Escalating needs for more caffeine isn't typical, and neither is being groggy an hour after waking up. I'd like to ask, as Vantage72 did, are you getting enough sleep? Also, are you sure getting up at 5 a.m. is optimum for you? Do you have trouble getting to sleep early enough in order to wake at 5 a.m. feeling refreshed?

If you're getting enough sleep and you at least somewhat enjoy what you're doing during the day, one teaspoon of instant coffee first thing should be plenty for that initial boost.

[rocketman]

to those who speculated that this could be due to sleep deprivation, i don't think that is the case. i sleep 6 hours at night and then another hour roughly 7 hours after waking up in the morning.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

You can do a lot more than just push-ups and sit-ups, and you can do them in 5-10 minute breaks throughout the day. But I prefer about 60 minutes of exercise to start the day. That gives a bigger boost that lasts longer.

so do you ever just do calisthenics during the middle of the day if you are feeling a bit sluggish?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by rocketman

so do you ever just do calisthenics during the middle of the day if you are feeling a bit sluggish?

Daytime sluggishness isn't normally a problem for me, so not really. I eat a diet that keeps me feeling alert throughout my workday. Fresh fruit is best for high alertness since the brain thrives on glucose. Heavy foods will make you more mentally sluggish.

Sometimes I'll do push-ups and/or pull-ups just to get the blood pumping faster, especially when I'm doing a lot of sedentary work, but it's more like a stretch break than a mental boost.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I just lost my whole post due to internet connection problems. But what I was saying was that you could put your coffee into a smoothie with fruits and veggies, much like David Wolfe suggested in his youtube video on the ultime smoothie. Just search that in youtube to get the link.

[rocketman]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Daytime sluggishness isn't normally a problem for me, so not really. I eat a diet that keeps me feeling alert throughout my workday. Fresh fruit is best for high alertness since the brain thrives on glucose. Heavy foods will make you more mentally sluggish.

Sometimes I'll do push-ups and/or pull-ups just to get the blood pumping faster, especially when I'm doing a lot of sedentary work, but it's more like a stretch break than a mental boost.

regarding the former, i started doing that a while back after reading one of your blog posts - amazing.

[christopher1]

Am sorry folks i dont like having coffee its like drug being addicted to that better no need to have them,,,,

[RagsToRiches]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

This sounds like Thomas Edison. He only slept 5 hours a night but had plenty of energy since he took the legal medication cocaine. Your body needs more sleep!

What you are describing is homeostasis. It killed Michael Jackson. Drugs cause a slingshot effect. You get a long term effect to the opposite of the short term effect. This is due to homeostasis.

My 1,900 page Mosby Medical Dictionary defines homeostasis as: "[Gk, homoios + stasis, standing still] a relative constancy in the internal environment of the body, naturally maintained by the adaptive responses that promote healthy survival. Various sensing, feedback, and control mechanisms function to effect this steady state."

Jackson slept OK on 2 medications, but they stopped working since the body was doing its job. So the doctor had to add a 3rd more powerful drug and he had tried some others that did not work. The combination that the doctor gave him to get him to go to sleep killed him.

I had a friend Naomi that was given a daily dosage of Methadone (medication for serious heroin addiction) that would kill the average person. But her friend was not average. He was a heavy drug user and begged her to try her methadone. She gave in and was convicted of manslaughter. The amount that she took daily, killed him. Try some green or white tea or yerba mate (Jesuit tea). Have you tried a cold shower? You can take that after the exercise suggested by Pavlina.

What a load of ****ing bollocks.

The idea that any of your suggestions are anything like the mechanism provided by caffiene is nonsense.

Plus the OP didn't ask for your tentative arguments against a naturally-occuring chemical which over 90% of North Americans consume daily, or your personal opinion on what else he could do other than coffee; he asked how to keep coffee effective.

If I ask you how to produce the most flavoursome toast, are you going to start telling me all the reasons why grilled bread is bad for me?

Get off your ****ing soap-box.

[RagsToRiches]

Originally Posted by christopher1

Am sorry folks i dont like having coffee its like drug being addicted to that better no need to have them,,,,

All this drugs are bad m'kay stuff is sickeningly self-righteous and relies heavily on your perceived ideas about what is "natural" and what isn't. You breathe in drugs everyday, they are contained in something called "air" and there's a huge ammount of chemicals all of which affect the way your body functions.

[bluedragon]

Originally Posted by RagsToRiches

What a load of ****ing bollocks.

The idea that any of your suggestions are anything like the mechanism provided by caffiene is nonsense.

Plus the OP didn't ask for your tentative arguments against a naturally-occuring chemical which over 90% of North Americans consume daily, or your personal opinion on what else he could do other than coffee; he asked how to keep coffee effective.

If I ask you how to produce the most flavoursome toast, are you going to start telling me all the reasons why grilled bread is bad for me?

Get off your ****ing soap-box.

I think the point is that coffee cannot be kept effective, because its long term effect is a constant weakening of the adrenal glands, which leads to decreased immunity, etc. Maybe coffee can, however, be kept effective for a few years or so, with a heavy tax on the body's reserves.

The main problem is that drinking coffee in the morning makes you feel more tired in general. Each morning when you drink coffee, you decrease your alertness the next day, provided the next day you drink the same amount of coffee. After a year of drinking coffee each day, coffee will not be able to make you as alert as you'd have been if you drank tea in the morning for the past year. Not to mention that coffee's effect doesn't last long. If you regularly drink coffee, you can be sure that each evening, you will feel more tired than you would feel if you were coffee-free. Plus, you will have trouble falling asleep.

At least that's what I think.

[RagsToRiches]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

I think the point is that coffee cannot be kept effective, because its long term effect is a constant weakening of the adrenal glands, which leads to decreased immunity, etc. Maybe coffee can, however, be kept effective for a few years or so, with a heavy tax on the body's reserves.

The main problem is that drinking coffee in the morning makes you feel more tired in general. Each morning when you drink coffee, you decrease your alertness the next day, provided the next day you drink the same amount of coffee. After a year of drinking coffee each day, coffee will not be able to make you as alert as you'd have been if you drank tea in the morning for the past year. Not to mention that coffee's effect doesn't last long. If you regularly drink coffee, you can be sure that each evening, you will feel more tired than you would feel if you were coffee-free. Plus, you will have trouble falling asleep.

At least that's what I think.

Well BD, if you read my original reply to the OP you will see that in-fact tolerance to caffeine will reset to normal levels in as little as 5 days.

[garentee]

Coffee hass good side effects for my lifestyle. I find that when I have to have more to get good results a day of drinking less has the desired effects (or two days) or even a day off....I really think that the effects of caffeine are like any other substance... subjective to the users body chemistry.. so thus for me it is good. For others maybe not so much..

[Parthon]

Originally Posted by rocketman

Interesting. Ironically I had actually considered this for a while during a certain phase in my research but ruled it out as not being rigorous enough to trigger endorphins. But I possibly wasn't doing enough. Have you found that pushups/situps suffice to give one the desired jolt?

I've found that speed exercises tend to get the adrenaline pumping enough to substitute for "chemical enhancers". A quick sprint over a short distance, or seeing how many pushups/situps/chinups you can do in only a minute. It definately gets the blood racing.

Originally Posted by RagsToRiches

All this drugs are bad m'kay stuff is sickeningly self-righteous and relies heavily on your perceived ideas about what is "natural" and what isn't. You breathe in drugs everyday, they are contained in something called "air" and there's a huge ammount of chemicals all of which affect the way your body functions.

Saying "drugs are bad" is an opinion, but hardly self righteous. What is natural and what is not is a fact however, purely determined by how much a particular substance has been processed. We breathe in chemicals every day, there's no reason why we need to go out and drink/snort/inject more into us at every opportunity.

If drugs were perfectly harmless, why all the press?

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by rocketman

to those who speculated that this could be due to sleep deprivation, i don't think that is the case. i sleep 6 hours at night and then another hour roughly 7 hours after waking up in the morning.

Six hours may not be enough. I don't know whether it is or not, but I'd think if I could barely stay awake an hour after getting up, I'd assume I'm not getting enough sleep.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by bluedragon

I think the point is that coffee cannot be kept effective, because its long term effect is a constant weakening of the adrenal glands, which leads to decreased immunity, etc. Maybe coffee can, however, be kept effective for a few years or so, with a heavy tax on the body's reserves.

The main problem is that drinking coffee in the morning makes you feel more tired in general. Each morning when you drink coffee, you decrease your alertness the next day, provided the next day you drink the same amount of coffee. After a year of drinking coffee each day, coffee will not be able to make you as alert as you'd have been if you drank tea in the morning for the past year. Not to mention that coffee's effect doesn't last long. If you regularly drink coffee, you can be sure that each evening, you will feel more tired than you would feel if you were coffee-free. Plus, you will have trouble falling asleep.

At least that's what I think.

This makes it sound like a person who drinks coffee for 10 years won't be able to function at all.

Also, if coffee's effect doesn't last long, why would people who drink a cup of coffee in the morning have trouble falling asleep?