
What artificial stimulants do you use? - ericc
A lot of us are caffeine and nicotine junkies. What else do you guys use? What do you use for creative stimulation? A glass of wine? 
======
jmzachary
PCP when coding Python and schrooms when hacking LISP.

What kind of question is that and what kind of answers are you expecting?

(p.s. Wine is neither artificial nor a stimulant.)

------
alex_c
Water. Lots and lots of water. Also has the advantage that it forces me to get
up and move regularly - what goes in must come out.

Other than that, good music can get me "in the zone".

I've only ever really drank coffee out of boredom, or socially... ("want to go
for a coffee break?" "sure, it means avoiding work for half an hour!")

------
randallsquared
I used to be a caffeine junkie. Weirdly, however, after hitting a rough patch
this year and deciding that I couldn't afford 4 2L bottles a day any more, I
found that I was no less productive without it, and I'm far less anxious. I
have an occasional caffeinated soft drink or green tea, still, but the non-
stop highly-caffeinated Randall days are no more.

~~~
rms
Congrats for kicking the habit, but to anyone that likes being addicted to
caffeine and wants to save money, you can buy natural sources of caffeine such
as kola, guarana, and yerba mate very cheaply online.

~~~
christefano
I second the mate. I love espresso and would drink it all day if I could, but
it often leaves me feeling dehydrated.

Mate has mateine, by the way, not caffeine (mateine is a stereoisomer of
caffeine). I don't know it has different properties and that's the reason or
if it's the plethora of other constituents, but in my experience mate gives me
a mild, persistent buzz all over my body as where caffeine goes straight to my
head.

~~~
rms
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Chemical_composition...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Chemical_composition_and_properties)

It's the other alkaloids that contribute to the effects that are different
than coffee.

~~~
christefano
It's great seeing erowid as a cited source. Thanks for the info.

~~~
rms
I hadn't followed it through to the source when I posted the Wikipedia link.
That was a pretty cool little paper one of the mysterious admins of erowid
wrote.

------
cmars232
A mortgage.

------
mnemonicsloth
Amphetamines.

Good enough for Erdos, Good enough for me. Of course, stark terror of
politically-motivated violence works even better (cf. career of Leonhard
Euler).

~~~
ivankirigin
<http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdos> " His working habits became
characterised by working obsessively long hours, sleeping at most 4-5 hours a
night and relying on the heavy use of amphetamines to maintain his activity
levels. Once a friend challenged him to give up his drug use for a month; he
complied, but later complained bitterly that mathematics was held up for a
month. "

------
henryw
Power naps and sleep that's longer than 6 hours.

~~~
euccastro
That's not _artificial_ , but then again, the question is of the "when did you
stop beating your wife" kind.

So yes, good regular sleep, meals that aren't too heavy to digest, and add
20-30 minutes of exercise in the morning for good measure.

------
blored
Steroids, nothing but pure unadulterated 'roid.

------
jsjenkins168
It may sound stupid, but eat plenty of fish. Omega-3 fatty acids (in fish)
have been shown to boost mood and concentration, among other things. I can
attest to that.

But fish is expensive so just buy the pills at Walmart..

~~~
portLAN
DHA and EPA from marine algae instead of fish are available now (google it).
Algae is where the fish get it anyway.

~~~
euccastro
I read somewhere that you're better off eating carnivore fish because the DHA
and EPA are more concentrated than in herbivore fish or algae. Unless you're
talking getting them from pills, in which case I guess it doesn't matter much.

P.S.: You should still avoid big species like tuna or swordfish, since they
have high concentrations of mercury.

~~~
portLAN
When you take pills, you get however many milligrams of the substance are in
the pills. You're probably thinking of flax oil and other sources of ALA,
which your body must convert itself into EPA and DHA. Yes, one of the reasons
to get it from algae directly is you avoid the environmental pollutants that
accumulate in the marine ecosystem as you go up the food chain (PCBs, dioxins,
mercury, etc.).

------
rms
In the way that caffeine is the socially accepted stimulant of the USA and
coca leaf is the socially accepted stimulant in South America, Kratom is the
stimulant of choice for workers in Southeast Asia. It is the leaf of a tree
native to Thailand and is unfortunately illegal in Thailand.

In small doses, it is stimulating in a very clean way that measurably
increases focus. If you take too much caffeine, you get a headache and become
anxious and jittery. If you take too much Kratom, it crosses over and hits the
mu-opiate receptors which makes you happy in a very primal way and can also
serve for creative stimulation, if so desired.

It's 100% not illegal in the USA, not drug testable, and cheap. I import it
from Indonesia and sell it at <http://www.getkratom.com>. Please don't order
from me today because I'm out of stock but I expect a fresh shipment from
Indonesia next week. Email me if you have any more questions about kratom or
want me to tell you when I'm in stock and you can have the news.yc discount.

~~~
nurall
But your website suggests that it cannot be consumed, how effective is it
otherwise?

~~~
rms
There's plenty of information on the internet, email me if you have any
questions about consumption.

------
weber
Kratom guy: it's really funny the way you guys have to sell your stuff.
Another site sells "Kratom Incense Capsules"....

When I open your site and see that bunch of green stuff for sale, it just
looks like weed has another name now.

~~~
rms
The incense thing is done more for the benefit of Paypal than anyone else.

~~~
steve
man do I hate paypal.

------
Goladus
Nothing. I just try to eat healthy food, excercise regularly, get enough
sleep, and be around stimulating people. Caffeine makes me irritable, and
since I've made it almost 30 years without trying a cigarette I have no
intention of trying one any time soon.

Sometimes I record myself at the piano while I'm drinking, and then go back
later and extract any of the good ideas. I've never had any luck coding drunk,
though.

------
omouse
You don't need any god damn thing for creative stimulation. If you can't get
yourself creative, drugs, booze, whatever isn't going to help.

~~~
brent
There is a long history of artists, musicians, and writers that would
completely disagree with that statement.

~~~
omouse
Correlation is not causation.

~~~
steve
There's also thousands of lab mice that have proven it.. but whatever works
for you.

~~~
omouse
You can't say that without linking to a source or two :P

------
brianmckenzie
Coffee, but just one really big cup when I wake up. I'm a few-months-on, few-
months-off smoker, but hopefully will give it up entirely. Although many
disagree, I think that coding on a nice three-beer buzz is a blast. That's as
far as I'm personally willing to go, but I've worked at places where the IT
department was better stocked than the Mexican mafia.

------
vlad
Artificial light.

~~~
randallsquared
This is an important one. The brighter the light, the more I feel "worklike".
To a point, of course, but 700 watts equiv. is as high as my office goes.

------
mikesabat
i definitely don't encourage the use of prescription drugs, but if you find
yourself getting distracted often at work Aderral is amazing for staying
focused and working long hours.

Talk to your doctor. Side effects include launch parties and series B funding
meetings. __Not a pharmacist.

------
bjclark
I'm on a strict regimen of EPO and Hemoglobin blood transfusions, but that's
for cycling, not coding.

~~~
blored
You should be banned from Le Tour De France, luckily YC doesn't dope test. We
are in a tainted generation of coding.

------
horatio05
In Argentina they drink Matte, a substance which consists of what looks like
leaves and twigs dug up from the Pampas. I believe they also eat tremendous
quantities of beef... though that may not help with staying awake.

~~~
christefano
One of my favorite writers talks about Argentina's obsession with beef -- and
mate, incidentally -- at
[http://www.idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_d...](http://www.idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm)

------
weber
In Brazil we drink "Matte" as well but for me its more for the taste (and for
the heating effect on the winter) than for the effect.

On my cubicle we share a 2L Coca Cola at 4 pm. It helps a lot in raising
moral.

------
davidw
Nothing - if I'm that tired, maybe it's best to get some sleep. I'll have some
tea once in a while, but it's not something that really wakes me up or gets me
going.

------
aswanson
Music.

------
nurall
I am surprised nobody is talking abt good 'ol weed!! Don't you reach the peak
of creativity under the influence?

~~~
SwellJoe
Most of us are developers. Creativity is only part of the equation, and pot
definitely does not contribute to any other piece.

------
sabhishek
Green tea with fresh mint.. trust me folks it works and doesn't ruin your
already exhausted nervous system.

------
whycombo
Viagra, is there any other????

------
german
Redbull ;)

------
zmike
My startup is powered by 200mg / day of gray market modafinil.

