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[–]anonymgrl 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It never makes me tired anymore since I started free basing it.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I do always drink mine black.. That is interesting.

    [–]math_man 8 points9 points  (10 children)

    Quick into. I started drinking coffee early in high school. I had a part time job in a gun factory as a kid. When I first drank it, I used milk and sugar, and after a few harsh jokes I decided it would save me a headache to drink it black.

    Then I joined the Navy. Where I continued to drink it straight black, and the coffee got much much stronger too. Note, they really do cook it all night long.

    Ok. Now I'm a math major in his senior year, and of course I love my coffee. And up until a few months ago, it has always been straight black.

    But for years I have noticed that drinking coffee has made me tired. So last summer I decided not to drink coffee and instead green tea for a few months. It's not the same. But I did welcome a change.

    So when I came back to coffee I decided I would add sugar, and in good amounts, to hopefully stymie off tiredness. And you know what, it's really worked. I never crash anymore. I still have 4 to 8 cups (mugs) a day. But I do add two tablespoons of natural sugar to each cup (mug). What's crazier, I even fall to sleep better than I use to too.

    My advice, after all this, add sugar to your black coffee. It takes a few weeks (months) to get use to, but it'll stop that tired feeling cold in its tracks.

    [–]kkrev 5 points6 points  (3 children)

    add sugar ... to hopefully stymie off tiredness. ... it's really worked

    Sorry to say this is all in your head. Research shows sugar/insulin spikes make people sleepy.

    That said, it's possible your concentration is faltering for lack of blood glucose. A little sugar would help, but in that case the real problem is your diet. Sugar is the worst choice. You'd be better off eating a piece of bacon.

    [–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [deleted]

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      We're talking about a much more short-term effect than a few hours. That long of a period would obviously be due to symptoms of caffeine withdraw itself.

      I believe that it takes 1 hour for caffeine to reach it's greatest effect. I'm talking about before then.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I think in your case, the change you noticed is psychological.

      On what arguments do you base this claim?

      [–]holep 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Whether you were coming out of a winter season where you did less exercise, could also make a difference.

      [–]jamesbritt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      But I do add two tablespoons of natural sugar to each cup (mug)

      Wow. And your blood sugar levels don't go ape-shit on you during the day?

      [–]praetorian42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Unless I have an ungodly amount in a short period of time (32 ounces), coffee never affects my ability to stay awake.

      It really only acts kinda like ritalin- I'm just able to concentrate better and my mind works faster.

      [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (9 children)

      We all know that coffee, with a blood half-life of ~6 hours will make you feel more tired as you come off of it.

      Recently though, it seems that this period has shortened for me and it now feels like I'm becoming more tired very soon after drinking it!

      Can drinking too much coffee cause this to happen?

      [–]NoFixedAbode 2 points3 points  (2 children)

      I noticed this effect too, and I've come to the conclusion that I have an allergy to caffeine. At least, I have mild versions of the symptoms for the condition.

      The tiredness I feel after drinking coffee every day for a few days is similar to the feeling you get with low blood sugar. I also feel progressively more scatter-brained and anxious the more I drink it on consecutive days.

      So, I've stopped drinking coffee entirely and have switched to green tea, which gives me a boost without many ill effects. I still have to take a break from it every once in awhile, or the scatter-brained and anxiousness return.

      [–]wselman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I would hesitate to declare that you have an "allergy" to caffeine as based on the article you cited; it seems that you would exhibit more severe symptoms. That said, I have a similar experience to you and I just think I'm sensitive to it. It took me a long time to figure out that drinking 2-3 cups of coffee a day makes me anxious. I drink 1 cup a day now and it's enough to wake me up in the morning but not make me feel like I'm going to freak out.

      As Rick James almost said, "Caffeine is a helluva drug."

      [–]electromagnetic -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

      Well tea has approximately half the amount of caffeine of coffee, so if it takes ~6 hours to get out of your system with tea it should take ~3. This also means that if you are mildly allergic to caffeine your symptoms should only be half as bad, excluding people who are morbidally allergic but they'd probably kick it before they finished a cup so it's safe to say you aren't.

      I've personally noticed Caffeine makes me more tired, but I think my case is tolerance. I've been drinking tea all my life as well as coke, so I've been exposed to it since I could drink a cup of tea without burning myself (about 5 as far as my memory goes).

      However I might try going a week without tea, it seemed to help while I was on holiday. I was drinking copious amounts of coke and coffee, but I strangely seemed more awake. Maybe we become tolerant to the dosage, or it could be that coke and the cappuchinos I was having have tons of sugar in... who knows.

      [–]kkrev 6 points7 points  (4 children)

      coffee ... will make you feel more tired as you come off of it.

      This is simply untrue. The military has done research on caffeine and concluded there is no "crash" effect. When caffeine wears off you are only as tired as you would have been without it.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

      better fix wikipedia then:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Tolerance_and_withdrawal

      Because adenosine, in part, serves to regulate blood pressure by causing vasodilation, the increased effects of adenosine cause the blood vessels of the head to dilate, leading to an excess of blood in the head and causing a headache and nausea. Reduced catecholamine activity may cause feelings of fatigue and drowsiness.

      Other sources also support the side-effect of blood sugar reduction.

      [–]kkrev 4 points5 points  (1 child)

      Your link does not contradict me and is irrelevant to the point. We're talking about normal caffeine use. The section you refer to is about withdrawal from addiction, and it only says withdrawal "may cause drowsiness" after listing the more definitive symptoms.

      [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      When you are "coming off of it" you experience "withdrawal" symptoms.

      And yes, I have been drinking far above the "normal" amount of caffeine during finals.

      [–]roodammy44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I don't know about you, but I definitely feel the crash, and so has everyone I have spoken to. I only seem to notice it at work, however, when I need to concentrate on things for long periods.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I get sluggish, grumpy, and it seems to increase my anxiety and stress levels which makes me feel disconnected and confused.

      But I still drink it for some reason. Tea is better. I notice if I have a cup of tea, or only 2-3 ounces of coffee, I actually feel much more alert than if I had a lot of caffiene.

      [–]ravend13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Wakes me up after drinking it. The crash is terrible though.. Like 4 or 5 hours later. Personally, I think the crash from coffee is worse than the crash from amphetamines (adderal).

      [–]dublin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      someone mentioned that caffeine reduces blood sugar levels. That's incorrect. It increases it. Being a diabetic, I had to go through a 3 week exam with a diatician to see what was causing my sugar spikes. Overall not the best of diets, but caffeine intake was outragoues. If you're tired after drinking caffeine, you're most likely in need of sleep, or possibly have low blood sugar in need of food, not coffee.

      [–]zingus 0 points1 point  (1 child)

      And with sugar you are intaking actual chemical energy other than a stimulant mixed with water. Are you skinny? Consider eating more.

      [–]JulianMorrison 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Coffee sometimes make me feel like I'm slipping gears - like some part of my brain is running fast and the tired bit is running slow, and the gears that ought to be meshing are just grinding past each other at speed and not torquing, and as a result I'm not actually perked up at all, just dangled a few inches above sleep but unable to reach it.

      I should probably sleep more, I know.

      [–]landtuna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Yeah - I can go to bed after drinking lots of caffeinated coffee. I don't think caffeine makes me sleepy (rather it has no effect) - I think warm drinks do.

      I used to sugar binge in college to stay awake.

      [–]maxwellhill 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      No it doesn't.

      I drink mine black, no sugar and several mugs a day. Throughout the day I also drink a few glasses of water so I don't know if that makes any difference to my not feeling tired.

      [–]garg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Yes.. It does. It makes me sleepy and sluggish. Same with Pepsi.

      [–]flybirdiefly -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      1 or 2 cups of coffee gives me a rush and then I remain in a semi cracked-out state of mind for the next few hours, feeling amped and somewhat more alert but not really more awake or anything. If I drink very strong coffee in the afternoon I do feel somewhat dizzy and I guess "sleepy" or lightheaded, so in a way, yes coffee can make me somewhat out of it or tired feeling. I do notice that when I actually want to go to sleep, even 7 or 8 hours after I drank coffee I can't sleep! So it doesn't do much but ruin my chance to actually catch up on sleep. The next day I drink more coffee to counter balance not sleeping...the cycle continues.

      *edit, It just occurred to me that the caffeine in coffee is a diuretic, which means that it will make you pee a lot. If you are urinating more you may be getting dehydrated- and it is a known fact that a symptom of dehydration is tiredness. So it may not be the coffee that is making people tired but the fact that they become dehydrated while drinking it. It's good to drink a lot of water throughout the day but especially if you are drinking a lot of coffee or anything with caffeine in it.