
Ask HN: How many coffee do you need per day to get your work done? - bsvalley
I tried to get off coffee several times (1-2 months without coffee) but it seriously affects my day to day performance. At work, home, etc. I need at least 2 coffees per day to get through the entire day and be functional.<p>How about you, how many coffees do you drink per day?
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xyzzy4
I stopped drinking coffee because it was making me feel too anxious. I also
stopped caring about my total productivity per day for the same reason.
Instead I make sure I just do _something_ per day.

~~~
bsvalley
I understand that, though, coffee makes that "something" less painful. Which
is why I decided to keep drinking coffee beside the anxious side effect that I
get as well. The trade off was worth it.

~~~
cylinder
ymmv, and this could be placebo for me, but NALT[0] eliminated my post-coffee
anxiety.

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/BulkSupplements-N-Acetyl-L-
Tyrosine-P...](https://www.amazon.com/BulkSupplements-N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine-
Powder-grams/dp/B00ENQYI1E)

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rbg246
I have two double shots of espresso and one tea all before midday as I found
caffeine after midday was causing interrupted sleep with vivid dreams.

I was similar to you in that ive given up coffee but found I was unproductive
without it.

I've found the before midday approach has worked well for me.

~~~
bsvalley
Same here. Any coffee after 3pm would impact my sleep.

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orky56
Down to 0. I have a cup of decaf in the morning since I need to override my
behavior of having something hot and bitter in the morning. In the afternoon,
I'll have some hot barley tea. Over the weekend, I'll treat myself to one
regular coffee that's more on the fancier side.

I decided to stop caffeine because I was getting random headaches in the
evenings. Also, it would be very hard to forgo that afternoon caffeine when I
started to get sleepy.

With this new routine, I feel much more in control of my mind and can escape
the roller coaster of energy that caffeine puts me through.

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saluki
I had the same issue with soda. I felt like I had to have a 20 oz soda first
thing in the AM to focus and get things done.

If I had a tight deadline I would drink them non-stop throughout the day.

I started setting up green tea at night in sealed cups in the fridge so they
were cold in the morning when I would typically have soda. (if you're in to
coffee try hot green tea).

Basically I transitioned over to green tea from soda. Now I don't even drink
tea everyday. I've been drinking water with a few table spoons of lemon juice
and ginger tea with apple cider vinegar when I feel like I need a pick me up
and I have just as much energy as drinking soda except without the calories
and the crash.

Also having a small snack when I would normally need a soda helps.

I will occasionally have a soda with pizza but I've tried to avoid that by
having beer or a carbonated non-sugar drink instead. If I have one soda the
next day I'll start craving one again.

Good luck. Give it a shot. You don't need caffeine like you think you do.
Especially the strong/sugared variety.

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jmarchello
0\. As long as I get 6-7 hours of sleep I can be pretty productive throughout
the day. Have you tried going for a walk during your lunch hour?

~~~
bsvalley
I was working for a company that had access to a nice trail where I used to
walk for 30 minutes every day after lunch. It helped digesting but didn't
change much in terms of productivity.

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tbihl
I drink two cups of black tea in the morning, and sometimes also a soda if I
really need to be productive. My sleep schedule is pretty abysmal: 5.5-6 hours
on weekdays, 9 ish on weekends. Nonetheless, I seem to be able to focus for at
least 10 hours per day of good work. The other two of my twelve daily hours at
work tend to be pretty low quality.

It used to be that I'd be a useless blob when I got home. I seem to have
mostly fixed that by standing for 5-8 hours each day at work. Only downside is
I've become acutely aware of how uncomfortable some of my shoes are.

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mswen
5 to 7 standard size cup/mugs per day. I drink it black, no sugar or creamer.
I used to worry about the health effects. But studies like this [1] suggest
that it their might increased health benefits up to about 5 cups a day. So I
have decided to enjoy my coffee and just keep an eye on it to not interfere
with sleep.

[1]
[https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/182/12/1010/2195423/Ass...](https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/182/12/1010/2195423/Association-
of-Coffee-Consumption-With-Overall-and)

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DanBC
How's your sleep? Have you tried recording your sleep or using a sound
activated recorder to see if you have sleep apnea? (Not sure what the
recommended method of self detecting sleep apnea is)

When's the last time you had bloods taken? There might be a thyroid thing
going on.

~~~
bsvalley
I actually did these 2 exact tests not a while ago. Thyroid was negative but
they recorded that I have short apnea under 10s. Which put me in the mild
apnea group, where you don't necessarily need further investigations.

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mrfusion
FYI. It took me eight months to truly quit and not miss it.

(Fast forward two years and I'm hooked again. Turns out adding a few drops of
caffeinated coffee to your decaf cup will gradually snowball into full caff
cups.)

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amerkhalid
I love coffee, in past, I would drink 5-6 cups of black coffee everyday.

This year I am cutting back on coffee because I think it messes with my
stomach. I am down to 2 cups in the morning to get going. This leaves me a bit
foggy in afternoon. I try to take walk breaks when I feel a bit foggy.

My goal is to stop drinking coffee regularly. (I still love coffee too much to
give it up completely. And I can never give up relaxing/reading/writing in
coffee shops.)

~~~
lastofus
Strong black tea can be a nice middle ground to get a bit of caffeine without
going full bore, especially in the afternoon.

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adnanh
2-4 espressos per day

1 in the morning after my breakfast 2 during the work day (one usually around
noon (sometimes I skip this one) and one after lunch) 1 after I come home from
work before dinner (sometimes I skip this one)

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tabeth
Zero. If you _need_ coffee you probably lack adequate sleep. That being said,
coffee smells, and tastes delicious, so it can be nice to have one in the
morning.

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ezekg
I usually keep it at 3-4 cups. Any more and I get a little jittery and it
becomes hard to focus, any less and I'm a monster. (Yes, I have a problem. My
wife agrees.)

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b_emery
n+1 where n is the number of kids I have. Currently, n=3.

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auganov
About a gallon of coke zero so that's roughly 4 classic cups in terms of
caffeine content. Never tried actual coffee, though.

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tjalfi
I drink two cups of coffee and one cup of half decaf/half regular during the
work week.

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bjourne
About 4 cups. But I can admit that my sleep schedule is pretty awful too.

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nyddle
One double espresso in the morning + 2 espresso shots throughout the day.

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poletopole
Three cups of coffee and maybe four diet cokes.

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malyk
0 cups

