A question for coffee lovers

Lys said:
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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Thank you :)
 
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Kombucha is by far the best form of caffeine I can tolerate. The small amount of sugar in it hardly seems to matter. If my diet is virtually perfect then I can do better by stopping it, but in all other conditions it seems to help in various ways. I do avoid it before sleep and also in the morning. In the morning a cigarette helps me wake up.

Coffee seems to push my body and mental state to extremes.
 
With maths, you either have it or you don't. Methinks that no amount of brain stimulantion will help you crack the equations better.

At best, you may be under an impression that you are amazing at it while being zonked out of your mind on coffee - while actually not doing very well, at all. It will just add to the edginess and anxiety.

The best thing for maths is a rested body, a solid brekkie - and lots and lots and lots of practice.

It is well worth the effort. Mathematics is beautiful and very satisfying when you discover and understand new concepts.

Good luck with your studies!

:knitting:
 
I would recommend getting a good night's sleep, and then jumping into the math before you have time to think about how awful math might be. :D

A lot of it might come down to finding the most comfortable way to study. My ability to read was limited until I decided to look for a comfy reading chair. I got an Ikea Poang reading chair, no amount of pillows would help me read in bed. Don't get the idea that you should just push through physical discomfort. Make yourself comfortable in any way you can so that when you do need to push yourself, your efforts go farther. The comfort is just another kind of push.

I find there is a correlation between vivid dreams and my concentration ability. So maybe for me there is a connection with melatonin.
 
Bosphorus1982 said:
Hi. Do you have any information about the effects of coffee on studying? I'm thinking of studying mathematics anyway i don't know if coffee is beneficial for that. I'd be happy if you could answer. Thanks
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I tried to drink coffee many years ago exactly for that purpose. Unfortunately coffee caused a panic attack like symptom for me, overdriving my heart with palpitations, high blood pressure and I got sleepy from coffee! I tried to use our kind of super-concentrated "Eastern-European espresso coffee" [very different from that big cup 'Latte' US diluted junk] to pour it into a big glass of milk instead of cocoa powder with same disastrous result.

Since then I learned to avoid coffee for good. For example if I heap on too many layers of bed-clothes, while sleeping I get a strong, enduring heart-beat loudly throbbing in my ears + throat + stomach the "heartbeat almost shaking my side I'm laying on" I can't sleep at all. Enough times I found myself waking up exhausted, because I heaped on too many - 3 or 4 thin - bed-cloth-covers and my heart pumped like crazy all night so it did not get any rest at all!! Same result with coffee, just being awake and trying to work. No can do!


EDTA as brain booster:
I noticed, that while doing an EDTA session - and also doing the Spinning Exercises recommended by the C's, for the first time in my life, I could understand the (for me) complex, university-level mathematics in quantum mechanics.
 
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If you want to concentrate on something, the less distraction the better. So, you don't want to be thirsty, or hungry or distracted by environmental concerns.

So the setting is important. Schools are nice settings: they're quiet, clean, conducive for study. They are designed to provide a environment to allow you more focus.

So, in a home setting, you would want to replicate such an environment and tailor it to your need.

Sometimes, I want to clean house before I start something, else I would think about it when I would want to focus more on what I want to. So, I make the setting just so that I can immerse myself in what I want to focus on.

And coffee or drink and snacks to feed your urges will keep them at background levels while you study. So, you have to be organized and regimented, and then in this discipline able to focus better.
 
I've come to depend on coffee to help wake me up for work in the morning. I think it's starting to take its toll though because I tend to drink it throughout the day (I usually switch to organic decaf in the evening).

I went to a farmer's market recently where they were selling a fancy matcha tea: a Certified Organic ceremonial grade matcha. I have the tea now and I'm going to try making it with the traditional matcha whisk. I think I'll try drinking it instead of (or mostly instead of) coffee for a week and see how I do.

I don't know if I could ever cut out coffee entirely (my addict mind speaking) because of how much I like it but I also don't care for how anxious and agitated I get when I drink it! I think it also effects my digestion and quality of sleep.

Supposedly matcha improves concentration and provides a less jittery, more sustained energy boost because of the amino acid, L-theanine. Maybe this would be a good alternative to coffee, especially for studying?
 
Maybe there is a couple things happening. Drinking it. And smelling it.

I drink both ground coffee and freeze dried, but when I make coffee from grounds, I especially like the aroma of the grounds and the brewing. But I like the scent of grounds the best. It has a intoxicating effect. I like it so much, but I don't go to the cupboard all the time to get the high - it is just a special part of the process of making coffee. So, as good as it makes me feel, it must give a gratification that settles any need and makes whatever you are doing serene. It effects like a drug but alleviates any need for more - eliminating a chance of dependency - but for its complimentary effect of caffeine.

So, maybe there is a aroma therapy type effect just from the scent, and the caffeine effect of ingesting it a seperate complimentary effect.
 
I don't think I have ever met someone who dislikes the smell of coffee. It brings an enchanted and warm feeling. Although its rare for me to really feel that pleasurable mystic appreciation sensation while holding the cup, I am a daily coffee drinker in form of strong espresso as a pick me up. I noticed that if I drink too much in a day, that day is ruined by coffee making me feeling more tired than usual. If i drink coffee at afternoon or in the beginning of the night I get sleepy. I think I'll try a another "detox" from coffee, an easy one this time. Cold turkey from coffee hits me hard.
 
Did you hear about coffee with L-theanine? L-theanine seems to erase the unpleasant effects of coffee (like heart palpitations) while leaving the mind sharp. I tried it few times and it actually works that way. Great combination for studying, in my opinion. Here you can read more:

coffeeaffection.com

Coffee and L-Theanine - Boost Your Productivity - Coffee Affection

L Theanine and coffee are a match made in heaven. Here's what you should know about your productivity & these chemicals...
coffeeaffection.com coffeeaffection.com
 
Interesting to read this thread. This past week I decided to try the restricted eating that was talked about in the latest session. And in the course of doing that, I quit coffee, as it didn't seem right to drink coffee on an empty stomach while fasting, and by the time I ate in the late afternoon, it was too late for coffee. Well, I started feeling groggy, and dizzy, and fatigued, with a pretty strong headache. Couldn't figure out what was happening, and then it dawned on me that it must be caffeine withdrawal. Never have experienced that before, so was quite a shock just how bad it can make you feel.

I think I will go the route of cutting back slowly, and go from there. I usually drink about 2 cups a day, but I like it strong...☕ and really do enjoy it. But I think cutting back to one anyway will be a goal, and then eventually get off it.
 
I drink 2 cups of coffee per day. One I have as the very first thing I do when I wake up, it's a great perk and I really enjoy it. I probably smoke two american spirit cigs with that and then I'm good to go. I also drink about 3 cups of tea across the day too. Taken in moderation, I don't see any problem with coffee, just don't push it overboard. I drink it black and strong, I never drink milk and my teeth are fine too. The second coffee I have each day is in the evening around sunset, when I go out into my garden and again smoke two cigs and take in the moment. I shouldn't really drink one at that time but I really enjoy it, so continue to indulge. But generally I am a conservative consumer of it, so haven't suffered any ill-effects should I temporarily run out for example. I always keep coffee and tea in the house, along with fruit juice. I couldn't really abide going without it I've got to say!:cool2:
 
Coffee lover here for twenty years now.
I will only drink one or two cups of coffee a day, black. The first one in the morning. I really enjoy it as a ritual to start my day, especially since I don't like to have food before a certain time (usually 11 am or 12 pm or even later some days) and I still want to grab something warm that will not break my fast. I also feel it helps me not to feel any cravings before a certain time.

Recently, I have started to drink a big glass of water before making coffee, just to get my body flush away a bit from the night and because coffee alone will make me a bit thirsty. This reminds me that in some Mediterranean countries, you will always get a glass of tap water for free when you order a coffee, whether you ask for it or not.

A few notable things I've noticed during my coffee career:
- A cup too much and my heart will start beating irregularly and I will start to feel anxious, especially if I haven't slept enough or too little. I now avoid overindulging in coffee when I'm lacking sleep. It takes a rested body to deal with coffee.
- Black coffee is fine, milk and coffee is poison: I stopped putting milk in my coffee when I realised I needed to run to the WC after only two sips of it (and then needed to make another cup of coffee cause the previous one had gone cold by the time I was back).
- Mysteriously, the day I fell pregnant (not aware about it yet), I woke up hating the smell of coffee and not knowing myself anymore. Given the studies listed above about coffee being bad for the foetus, I feel grateful that my body prevented me from drinking it for the first couple of months of pregnancy.

I also once read a Mercola article about how getting a freshly brewed cup of organic coffee is a good way to start the day. I don't consider it the healthiest choice for my life, I think one day I may consider giving it up, but for the moment, I think I have plenty other areas to tackle to improve my health and coffee is like the last one in the list, as long as I don't over indulge.
 
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