
What is your stimulant of choice to keep you working through the night? - ACSparks

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cwilbur
If I _need_ a stimulant to keep me awake, I go to sleep.

Pulling an all-nighter when I'm already in sleep debt only produces code that
sucks. The next day, I'm too tired to be functional and I've got a bunch of
code that needs to be thrown out and rewritten. Sleep is a better use of time.

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ryantmulligan
Agreed. I don't even drink or ingest any stimulants. Keeps my sleep much more
regular.

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cwilbur
Oh, I have no objection to stimulants in general; I like my tea and my coffee.
It's just that if I _need_ the stimulation to stay awake and working, I'm
already in false-economy territory.

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jsjenkins168
No stimulants, just polyphasic sleep. I get the jitters if I try caffeine...

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curio
The knowledge that if I go to sleep, it will take me hours to get back in the
zone again.

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jsjenkins168
Try limiting your naps to 20 minutes. This prevents you from entering the deep
phases of the sleep cycle which is what causes you to be drowsy.

If you are really hardcore you can go all out and convert to the Uberman
polyphasic sleep cycle. 6 20 min naps, every 4 hours apart. Once adapted you
can code for 22 hours a day its awesome...

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nickb
Definitely coffee. I don't drink much of it so I'm not that resistant to
caffeine. If you're a regular coffee drinker than those caffeinated candies or
energy drinks might be a better choice.

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ACSparks
I enjoy a nice mix a Vault energy soda while listening to the Chemical
Brothers - Come With Us album.

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omarish
my combination exactly.

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papersmith
There seems to be stereotype that high performance geeks rely on caffeine
drinks to stay alive. In reality only regular sleep cycles and adequate
exercises can keep you at your peak performance over the long term.
Meditations can help you to control your focus and weed out distractions, so
you waste less of your time when the environment doesn't fit you.

If you really need to pull a few all-nighters, consider taking something on a
measurable dosage, so when you decide to rehabilitate, you can adjust your
intake on a decay curve.

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rms
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratom>

Kratom is a great stimulant. If you take too much, you don't get jittery, you
just get really happy.

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timg
Wow, something that's legal in the US but not elsewhere. Don't see that too
often.

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wammin
If I told you I might get arrested

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dfranke
Tea, Earl Grey, unadulterated.

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dfens
Jasmine tea and Led Zeppelin.

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jwp
A very important question... Celestial Seasonings Fast Lane tea.

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__
A strong tea, like Irish breakfast or lapsang souchong.

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jamiequint
Rockstar Juiced or Coffee but not the two mixed

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pg
Tazo Chai

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Alex3917
Chai is good. If you have free time it's fun to experiment with making your
own. SpecialTeas.com has a variety of cheap black teas that work well, and the
other decent site is uptontea.com, which is actually based just outside
Boston. Then the rest of the ingredients you can get from the supermarket.
There are a bunch of decent recipes online; I usually use the one from the
rec.food.drink.tea FAQ

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cwilbur
I buy black tea with chai spices in it already, and mix it with vanilla,
honey, and milk myself. The preparation is as important to the experience as
the beverage itself.

