Coffee. Does it actually do anything?

Does coffee really effect your brain in the morning?

  • I genuinely stay half asleep without a shot of coffee

    Votes: 5 23.8%

  • I think it has some marginal effect but not vital to my feeling awake

    Votes: 13 61.9%

  • Any hot drink will do. Decaff is just as good with breakfast.

    Votes: 2 9.5%

  • I don't drink tea or coffee. I prefer Juice or Herbal tea.

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Total voters
    21
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I always hear people spout the somewhat cliche'd line that they can't do anything until they have 'had a coffee in the morning to wake them up'.
TBH It does absolutely nothing more for me than any hot drink - decaff, weak tea or hot chocky. It doesn't matter, it's the rehydration and the natural transition, emerging from sleep neuro chemistry, that works.
(A secret decaff placebo experiment would be interesting.)
I think the coffee as a major stimulant thing is more social theatre than reality. At least at domestic consumption levels.
For others it may be different
So I thought I'd ask the team :unsure:
 
I'm definitely more a tea person - I can drink tea almost continuously - but I don't dislike coffee. It has very little effect on me in terms of alertness (not much does). I have one friend who swears it's like fuel for him, and another who won't drink it in the evenings, because it keeps him awake. But personally, I wonder about the real effects of it.
 
I joke about it (eg, if I do something stupid, I’ll blame it on a lack of coffee) but let’s face it, I do stupid things all day long. :LOL:
Not sure my morning cup of Joe is as significant as I give it credit for.
 
OuttaInc said:
I joke about it (eg, if I do something stupid, I’ll blame it on a lack of coffee) but let’s face it, I do stupid things all day long. :LOL:
Not sure my morning cup of Joe is as significant as I give it credit for.
Click to expand...
I heard my name...
As you may guess I'm in Team Coffee. That said I don't think it has a great affect on my "waking up" in the morning. It is part of my ritual on getting ready for the day and I like the taste [Ethiopian Wild Coffee if you can find it]. Waiting for that first cup lets me start the day gently.
But today I have had to drink decaf and there is no saving the day after that.
 
I certainly enjoy my morning coffee (6 cup mark on the pot, 2 mug fulls in reality), but don't feel that it affects my wakefulness. If I go above that, however, I do know that it affects my ability to sleep. After I reach my limit, I switch to either an apple-cinnamon herbal tea or hot ginger-honey drink. Decaf is not an option--despite what marketers may say, it just doesn't taste the same.

PS. I would be really interested in hearing a coffee commercial where they listed the potential side effects like they do with prescription drug ads (that may be a US only thing). I can hear the announcer, "Excessive urination, irritability, trouble sleeping, racing heartbeat."
 
The more you drink coffee, the more your body builds tolerance towards caffeine. In order to feel its effects, you have to drink less. Maybe only drink before some activities, like a more intense exercise.

I have a PRT coming on so I've been avoiding coffee. I'll drink it in the day of the test.
 
Caffeine one of the best (and cheapest) drugs for exercise. Couple of mugs of coffee in the morning constitutes my afternoon pre-workout.

Doesn't really impact my wakefulness, I think. - if I do get a bit of "siesta" eyes, - I've found that doing a bit of activity, like a half hour walk to be far more effective at ridding yourself of tiredness.

Late at night, being in front of a computer screen is also far more effective than coffee IMO.
 
I'm miserable without my morning tea, but I don't think it has anything to do with caffeine. It's simply that I like the taste of a really hot cup of tea and it's the first of the day. I never had coffee until university because friends would drink it but I find most coffee to taste the same as filtering water through toast crumbs.
 
If the morning coffee caffeine doesn't seem to work, perhaps a week off caffeine would give you the buzz back in the morning.
 
I just have coffee in the morning only. After that and for the rest of the day and into the night it's tea. And at night, just before going to bed, I'll have a cup of black tea and have no problem going to sleep.
 
I find that exercise every morning gets me going physically.

Coffee these days for me is a good physic--to get me going in another way--if ya' know what I mean.

As it is I make a pot of coffee that is usually three tablespoons decaf and one tablespoon of caffeinated which is a few shy of what they recommend and I drink that all day--because I don't care for cold drinks and it's that or water and the coffee as i mentioned gets me going in a different way that I need at my age. Even with the 1/4 infusion of caffeine and the small amount still in the decaf--I have no trouble sleeping at all. I can nod of 99% of the time within 15 min. (Or so my wife tells me--actually she says instantly sometimes. But that's an altogether other problem I shouldn't be discussing.) She worries because I don't drink enough water--she refuses to call any of the coffee water--I however argue that only half strength some of that has to count as water; anyway I'm not dehydrated.

Okay, that's probably too much sharing--so I'm done.

Oh, wait. Caffeine does do something, because at work they make it full bore and it could make your hair grow; though for some reason I'm the odd one who it doesn't work that way for and I could use some more hair. But to get back to the point--I can feel the difference after two cups and I usually revert to water the rest of the work day; which recently is only once a week and that too is a different story.

Okay--now I'm done.
. .
 
alexvss said:
The more you drink coffee, the more your body builds tolerance towards caffeine. In order to feel its effects, you have to drink less. Maybe only drink before some activities, like a more intense exercise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, once I become habituated to caffeine, I need it just to feel normal. If I then stay off it for a few days and then have a double-shot something, it's very stimulating, even somewhat unpleasantly so.

There are studies that prove an athlete not habituated to caffeine will benefit from a dose before exercise. IIRC, with cardio exercise it promotes the burning of fat for fuel rather than glucose.
 
Two cups a day for me, one in the morning and one at lunchtime. Definitely none after 6:00pm - it makes me unable to sleep not only because of an over-active brain but also because of an over-active bladder.
 
I need an "other".... I like coffee but rarely drink it because it does unpleasant things to both my brain and my stomach. I can drink tea in moderation, and after midday switch to stuff like redbush as a placebo.
 
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