from Hacker News

The invisible addiction: is it time to give up caffeine?

by gpresot on 7/6/21, 7:05 AM with 13 comments

• by daanvd on 7/6/21, 7:24 PM

  > Caffeine itself might not be bad for you, but the sleep it’s stealing from you may have a price. According to [neuroscientist Matt] Walker, research suggests that insufficient sleep may be a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, arteriosclerosis, stroke, heart failure, depression, anxiety, suicide and obesity. “The shorter you sleep,” he bluntly concludes, “the shorter your lifespan.”

  > But here’s what’s uniquely insidious about caffeine: the drug is not only a leading cause of our sleep deprivation; it is also the principal tool we rely on to remedy the problem. Most of the caffeine consumed today is being used to compensate for the lousy sleep that caffeine causes – which means that caffeine is helping to hide from our awareness the very problem that caffeine creates.

  After reading just the headline my initial reaction was "Well, no. It's never time to give up caffeine." But after reading the article I must say my view has changed somewhat. Not enough to banish caffeine forever, but enough to question the amount of 'maintenance caffeine' I consume to offset the consumption of the previous day. This cycle is somehow culturally accepted when it concerns caffeine, yet frowned upon when it involves alcohol. Essentially, it's the same trap.

• by karmakaze on 7/6/21, 4:58 PM

  I've continually drank coffee for most of my professional career, ranging from 2 to 6 cups a day. Given it up a few times cold-turkey resulting in annoying withdrawal symptoms mostly headaches and fuzziness.

  After a week or two notice an overall increase in energy and no crash/down hours at the end of the workday.

  The downside to being off caffeine is heightened awareness of everything around me. This is great if I'm on vacation smelling the flowers but terrible for trying to focus on software development ignoring disturbances and self-induced distractions. The closest I've found to a good balance is about 2 cups only on weekdays, but with lockdowns weekday and weekend habits have merged into a blur.

• by ggm on 7/6/21, 8:26 AM

  By Michael Pollan, and is good reading. Personally, I'm going to arm up to defend my right to caffeinate but he's not necessarily wrong about the proble.

• by thirdplace_ on 7/6/21, 10:34 AM

  I've been drinking coffee for years. I can stop for a few weeks without any withdrawal symptoms. So it's highly personal.

• by kaminar on 7/6/21, 10:37 AM

  Caffeine is the #2 addictive substance on earth...after refined sugar.