A question for coffee lovers

In 1948 an interesting experiment carried out to assess the effect different drugs would have on spiders, caffeine was one of them.

Here are the webs they built under the influence of various substances:

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If spiders are anything to go by, I doubt caffeine helps our ability to deal with complex concepts, such as maths, better :-)


Luks said:
Usually, a day, I drink one cup of coffee in the morning and the best if I do not go over such dose.

From my observation, coffee gives a kind of fight or flight state which is suitable for the morning oversleep and accelerate metabolism.

But every additional dose of coffee makes me feel like my brain is in a fog and body is in tense and it doesn't influence me well in any activity.

What is better than coffee is various kind of teas. Tea gives a little stimulation without a feeling of "fight or flight" state. I drink pure black tea and for me is the best.
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Same here. I don't like the taste of coffee at all and these days I usually only have one cup first thing in the morning. I used to drink loads and experienced the "fight or flight" feeling you described. What stopped it was adding honey to my morning cuppa. Keyhole mentioned this in another thread where he said that coffee without carbs leads to a stress response - which I think is the "fight or flight" you're referring to.


Keyhole said:
2-3 cups coffee per day with 1-2 tablespoons of unrefined organic sugar - No longer jittery feelings nor stress response to coffee.
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Interestingly enough, the honey trick made additional cups of coffee unnecessary for me and I went from well over 5 a day to one in the morning. I also don't experience the same low after the coffee high wears off.

Maybe the spiders in the experiment I mentioned above should have been given carbs with their coffee ;-)
 
Ant22 said:
In 1948 an interesting experiment carried out to assess the effect different drugs would have on spiders, caffeine was one of them.

Here are the webs they built under the influence of various substances:

View attachment 30095

If spiders are anything to go by, I doubt caffeine helps our ability to deal with complex concepts, such as maths, better :-)





Same here. I don't like the taste of coffee at all and these days I usually only have one cup first thing in the morning. I used to drink loads and experienced the "fight or flight" feeling you described. What stopped it was adding honey to my morning cuppa. Keyhole mentioned this in another thread where he said that coffee without carbs leads to a stress response - which I think is the "fight or flight" you're referring to.




Interestingly enough, the honey trick made additional cups of coffee unnecessary for me and I went from well over 5 a day to one in the morning. I also don't experience the same low after the coffee high wears off.

Maybe the spiders in the experiment I mentioned above should have been given carbs with their coffee ;-)
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Thanks a lot
 
I am a coffee lover. I agree with the advice given here, the best way to increase focus is through a good diet that provides the brain with plenty of fuel. Also, regular exercise and good sleep is important.
If you do drink coffee, organic and freshly roasted coffee is the best, imo.
 
I think that if one needs coffee in the morning in order to feel awake, what it may mean is that sleep hasn't been good enough (in both quality and duration). Optimizing the quality of sleep (darkness, ventilation, temperature, quietness, posture, diet, etc.) is important and should be considered before opting for external stimulants.
 
I am a coffee lover, we have a great coffee machine. Too great, probably. It grinds it and you can select the strength of it. Organic, fair-trade and freshly roasted. In a transparent glass, it's still clear since it's not too strong. It's easy to drink too much of it. We are 4 strongly-addicted coffee drinkers encouraging each other to share a coffee time. At that time, I can only think about staying balanced about it, not over consuming it, but suppressing it, not yet.
I now have difficulties drinking other kinds of coffee. Some are too strong, some are overcooked, and they taste nasty. I think it really is a factor to consider, when they really are strong, you can physiologically feel the effect instantly. Charged tongue, eyes widened, heart palpitations, among others.

To follow along other factors to consider, Chu advised this course on another thread, great tips: Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects
A lot of the info appear to be taken from A Mind For Numbers | Barbara Oakley
A good summary to improve your overall efficiency, especially adapted to mathematics courses, but not only. Knowing how the brain like to learn best is certainly helpful.
 
Laura said:
I'm a coffee lover but I can't drink it anymore because of the ill effects it has on me. After years of running on coffee, I found that giving it up was a good thing. My brain power was more steady, stable, and persistent.
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Did you give it up cold turkey or wean yourself off? Did you experience withdrawal symptoms?
 
SevenFeathers said:
Did you give it up cold turkey or wean yourself off? Did you experience withdrawal symptoms?
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I had to go cold-turkey. It was giving me serious palpitations and over-stimulating the pancreas/insulin and I was having episodes of fainting/insulin shock.

I had headaches and foggy brain for a week or so, then things started getting better. That was 16 years ago. After a year or so, I tried it again, and it was pretty awful. And the bizarre thing is, I don't think it is the caffeine because tea doesn't bother me and decaffeinated coffee affects me as adversely as the pure stuff.
 
Laura said:
I had to go cold-turkey. It was giving me serious palpitations and over-stimulating the pancreas/insulin and I was having episodes of fainting/insulin shock.

I had headaches and foggy brain for a week or so, then things started getting better. That was 16 years ago. After a year or so, I tried it again, and it was pretty awful. And the bizarre thing is, I don't think it is the caffeine because tea doesn't bother me and decaffeinated coffee affects me as adversely as the pure stuff.
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Thanks for your reply. I love coffee but I am thinking it would benefit me to give it up, so I will prepare myself for several days of withdrawal symptoms when I quit.
 
I myself have been trying to distance my self from years and years of coffee addiction. Like so many others have said,
I really do feel so much better without daily dose of caffeine in my system, and ever constant fog has been lifted off
 
About a year or so ago I had to give up regular and decaf coffee, because I started to feel terrible every time I drank it. And I loved my morning coffee, yet my body was totally rejecting it for some reason. It almost felt like I was having an anxiety attack each time I had it in any quantity. One thing that helped relieve the feeling until I totally quit coffee was salt water, so I figured the coffee, of any kind, was very adversely affecting my adrenals and my system overall. Also, to a lesser extent than what I experience with coffee, I also have a mild reaction to any type of caffeine, such as from teas and chocolate.
 
For what I've experienced, the best thing to stay focused and clear-headed on learning time is keto diet.
I can stay quiet on my chair at school all day without feeling sleepy.
At home, going to bed early, have a complete night of sleep helps a lot and if needed I would allow myself a short nap during the day.

As Starshine said, We are completely addicted to coffee and I can no longer feel the effect of caffeine during the day.
I drink approximately 6 short black a day (not strong though), including one after dinner and I fall asleep in a minute when I go to bed. My sleep is agitated though...
Anyway, I don't think that coffee helps me to focus and for memory.
I am also addicted to strong dark chocolate but I try to keep it reasonable and I don't feel like my brain works better with it. It just brings me a reassuring feeling which may be due to the small amount of sugar in it.

It is probably better to have a good diet, good sleep, allow yourself some short times off regularly and breath :-)
Good luck with maths! :lkj:
 
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