Quote:
Originally Posted by barcode120x
Of course, if I had more energy in me, I wouldn't be resorting to this but my current lifestyle forces me to find energy supplements, at least for the next 11 weeks until my semester ends.
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Caffeine is a bit of a false energy source when used regularly. If you use it sparingly then it certainly "wakes you up," but if you use it regularly then you develop a dependence. At that point you're no longer getting something special from caffeine, you are requiring the caffeine to operate simply at normal levels. Without caffeine you experience withdrawal symptoms.
I don't know how much caffeine you would need to use to develop an addiction. It probably varies person by person. If you think that you have an addiction and want to put an end to it, here's some advice.
* Don't try to quit if you're expected to perform extraordinarily well in the coming weeks. If you have exams coming up, kick the habit afterward.
* When taking your caffeine, try to avoid drinking any after noon. While some research indicates that caffeine screws up sleep rhythms for the next 2-3 days after consumption, keeping caffeine farther away from when you sleep means that your sleep schedule is less likely to be impacted. Caffeine may give you a temporary jolt, but sleep is your true source of feeling energetic throughout the day.
You
can operate without caffeine, even though modern culture and everyone else drinking up may have convinced you otherwise. We're rare examples, but my wife made it through medical school and is now well into residency: zero caffeine. No coffee, no soda, no energy drinks, not even tea. I'm now at the halfway point in medical school and it's the same deal (coffee tastes terrible, just makes me pee a lot, and doesn't wake me up). Schedule hard to get 6.5-8 hours of sleep per night. Try drinking water when you wake up: the act of drinking (or eating, if you're hungry that early) has been shown to help stimulate the body into an awake state. It may be a placebo, but it works for us.