Does coffee "works" on you all the time?

[intpz]

I've been thinking about this for a long time now, but not decided to post it, just for the sake of argument with myself...
Sometimes I drink little coffee, sometimes I drink a lot of it, sometimes - I don't drink coffee at all. But all the time, doesn't matter how strong it is, it doesn't affect me. I still feeling sleepy... Unless of course I do something interesting, but I'm not sleepy if I do something interesting without coffee...
So it makes me wonder - do you guys get sleepy if you are not doing anything that interests you even when drinking coffee, or even drinking strong coffee, even a lot of it, or is there something that makes me special about it?

 

[Ozymandias]

I always start my day at work with drinking a cup of coffee but it's more because I like to drink something hot then it's for waking me up.

I can't say I've ever felt any sort of ''rush'' from drinking coffee which other people feel.

On a side note I believe drinking tea before I go to bed, which I often end up doing, greatly affects my ability to sleep at night.

 

[xbox]

I get massive headaches if I don't drink my tea or coffee so I usually have 1 every morning, and hot tea in the evening after dinner (asian habit). I dont exactly feel the effects unless:

1. Ive had too much caffeine: I feel nauseous and start drinking water.

2. I've had none which gives me terrible pounding headaches, advil/tylenol/aspirin do nothing to help those headaches, only caffeine helps in that case.

1-2 cups a day is what I usually have, those days I feel normal, but obviously (chemically) the caffeine is helping.

 

[shoeless]

on cold days i'll drink hot coffee in the morning before work, because otherwise i'd probably die of sleepiness. on hot days it's a coffee flavored monster energy drink. either way, it's definitely a pick-me-up, but i haven't been doing it for long so i might not have much of a tolerance to it.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

I drink coffee when I'm cold. I'm always cold. The caffeine normally doesn't effect me.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

I barely drink coffee, I stopped for a while because it would trigger panic attacks, but that's months ago now.
I usually don't notice anything either, but a few days ago I drank a REALLY strong cup and I actually noticed my heart started racing, and I started to feel a little sick.

It can keep me awake, but I will still stay sleepy. It just blocks your ability to fall asleep. It doesn't affect melatonin for as far as I know, so that might be an explanation.

 

[Jesse]

Caffeine doesn't really affect me much either.

 

[Starfishtea]

I used to drink coffee every morning a couple of months ago. But it didn't really help so I stopped. I really didn't notice any difference. Energy drinks doesen't have any effect on me either. Not long ago one of my friends were staying at my house and I had had two monster energy drinks, but I was still so tired that I just had to go to bed and my friend had to leave. After two cans I fell asleep with no problem.

 

[why]

In response to title question: Hell yeah
I drink coffee almost every day. One cup usually doesn't do much, but after second I get really energetic, which is great.
The downside, though, is that I am unable to really concentrate on one thing for more than 5 minutes, but my mind constantly wanders, so I avoid drinking too much of it when I know I have to get something done.
I have also noticed I have trouble sleeping if I had coffee less than 4 hours before I go to bed. I am unable to fall asleep, even though I am feeling tired.

 

[Minuend]

I don't think I notice any difference. Doesn't mean there isn't one tho

 

[EditorOne]

Other variables probably have a greater effect on alertness than caffein, so it's hard to measure it. According to the military, it doesn't take effect for 20 minutes.

Additionally, the amount of caffein in various drinks is variable, even from the first cup out of the pot when it's still filling up down to the last cup in the same pot.

Xbox, the headaches: Caffeine is addictive after a while, hence the headaches when you haven't had any for, in my case, more than a day. However it's a headache easily chased with aspirin and after three days it goes away completely. I was caffeine-free some years ago but found myself drinking it again after a long road trip when alertness seemed prudent and stopping to rest was not an option.

I think if anyone wants to actually find out the effect of caffeine, you should get it in dose form (NoDoz, etc.) where there's some chance the amount posted on the label is actually the amount in the pill. Coffee, soda, tea, black tea, green tea, white tea, soda: Wildly variable even within the same substance.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Is it bad that I already started drinking caffeine at 3 or so? My babysitter would always give me tea, still my favorite drink.

And is caffeine addiction bad? Is it physically harmful? Regular use of caffeine mainly seems to have positive effects. (Lower suicide rates under coffee drinkers, lowered chance of Alzheimer's, improved cognitive performance... etc)

 

[EditorOne]

Wait, you want a value judgment on something? Ummm well uh how about an analysis instead? The value of alertness, the main direct benefit of caffeine, would seem to outweigh, for most people, the fact your body becomes mildly chemically dependent. It is, after all, a three-day cure involving aspirin to end dependency. Not exactly heroin. As I recall, though, once I stopped drinking coffee I had little or no additional trouble staying alert most of the time, only during extended periods of remaining awake. Maybe I'll try going without again and see how it goes. Coffee is getting so ridiculously expensive, especially for anything decent that doesn't make your mouth pucker.

 

[Tungsten]

I drink a lot of coffee because it's one of my favourite beverages, and not because I want something to stimulate me. If I did, I wouldn't choose coffee, because I don't think it does affect me. I'd rather choose redbull or m-150.

 

[420MuNkEy]

I don't drink coffee because I don't see the point in burning my mouth with dark scalding hot bitter liquid. I've never experienced any sort of boost in awareness/alertness from caffeine or any of those other energy drinks. The only thing that's worked for me is at least 40mg of medical grade amphetamine.

 

[TylerRDA]

I'm really really sensitive to caffiene. A quarter bottle of Mountain Dew gives me the jitters. The only time I'll consume caffeine is a bottle of Dr. Pepper when
-I didn't get enough sleep the previous night
-I'm out of ADHD meds
-I'm at work (dentist) assisting with a particularly difficult and long procedure with little room for error.

And then craaaash...

 

[jameslikespie]

Coffee makes my heart pound a little faster, but nothing extreme. I usually drink coffee (black) in the morning just to wake me up a bit for school.

Sidenote: Anything other than pure black coffee has no affect on me whatsoever.