The Right Way to Get Your Caffeine Fix

Tech-heads and working stiffs love their Cokes and coffees, and I've covered the effects of coffee on productivity in the past. That study essentially said that regular drinkers of caffeinated products didn't really get a boost from them at all: Rather, they were only good at staving off withdrawal symptoms brought on by habitual use of caffeinated drinks.

But recently I uncovered a 2004 story on the topic that offers a somewhat different perspective. The problem, it says, is not that caffeine doesn't really do any good. It's that we're just not drinking our coffees and sodas at the proper time of the day and in the right amounts.

According to this study (research from Rush University Medical Center and Harvard Med School), a big dose of caffeine first thing in the morning is exactly the wrong way to do it. The key to successfully using caffeine to boost your alertness level and stave off sleep is to consume small doses throughout the day. The study found that the caffeine of a mere two ounces of coffee taken once an hour worked to slowly build up the level of caffeine in the body in order to counteract the body's natural sleep/wake rhythms. The study also notes that you should only take in the caffeine while you need to maintain a high level of alertness. In other words, when quittin' time rolls around, cut off the coffee drip.

It makes logical sense, if you think about it. Caffeine has a half-life in the body, and a giant jolt early in the morning will often lead to that afternoon "crash" that many coffee junkies report so commonly. Overuse of caffeine will lead to insensitivity to the drug and, of course, the appearance of the withdrawal symptoms discussed in my earlier blog post.

If anyone gives the low-dose caffeine strategy a try, let us know how it works out for you!

LINK: Scientists Demonstrate Best Way To Use Caffeine