The thing is, it only does for a few days. At least for me. Then the coffee isn't helping at all -- it's just keeping you at the same baseline you previously were at with coffee.
I used to drink coffee all the time at just a constant level. Then I just got tired of feeling "dependent" on something and weaned off over a couple of weeks. Which was fine when you don't do it cold turkey -- just a little less energy each day but easily manageable.
Now I still drink coffee sometimes but I use it as a temporary performance tool. I'll "start up again" on any particular day where I have a ton of meetings, where I didn't get enough sleep, where I have to do a lot of physical stuff, etc. Often this might be several days in a row, where I increase my coffee each day a little more relative to the previous day for the same effect.
But then as soon as the demands stop, I immediately taper off to zero again, usually taking 2-5 days to do so. Not really because I "don't want to be dependent", but because I want to make sure I can get the full effect of coffee again the next time I need it, whether that's in a week or a month or three months.
It's kind of weird that I'm always fully aware of exactly how much I'm "dosing" myself with coffee. I'm almost always either "tapering up", "tapering down", or just off of it completely.
But it's very effective as a tool that way. Way more effective than when I just drank the same amount every day, which I discovered was no different from not drinking any at all (after tapering off).
I stop consuming caffeine 2 days before a holiday and preemptively take acetaminophen for a day to prevent any headaches. Then no caffeine on the holiday. I sleep more, relax more and just generally more chilled. I sometimes try to stay off it a bit after the holiday but that rarely lasts long.
Just a question -- are you entirely sure your acetaminophen pill doesn't also contain caffeine?
Just since that's an extremely common combination, and I wasn't aware of acetaminophen on its own being able to counter the effects of a caffeine-withdrawal headache.
Because a caffeine headache is neither a migraine nor a tension headache.
And according to Wikipedia, paracetamol is mainly only useful for migraines. For tension headaches, you need the combination with caffeine and aspirin as well.
Caffeine constricts blood vessels, which is why it's useful against headaches. And why withdrawal causes headaches, because now you have more blood flowing than you've been used to.
I operate a bit like this too, after I noticed a friend requiring a whole pot of coffee to get through the day. In the morning if I'm desiring coffee I ask myself for the justification. Bad sleep on a random weekday is not sufficient. My most preferable time to drink it is after a very good sleep during a focus time block. And of course, it remains potent. I've been drinking coffee for about 5 years now, and my "dose" is still very little: one small cup that I usually don't even finish, and I'm good for the day.
People who smoke a lot of weed call this taking a "T break" (t for tolerance). I do the same (with coffee) if I know a period is coming up where I could use bit of a boost.
I definitely need harder stimulants than coffee, like ADHD medicines to get by with soul sucking corporate work. Ideally it would be much stronger than ADHD medicine though.
The thing is, it only does for a few days. At least for me. Then the coffee isn't helping at all -- it's just keeping you at the same baseline you previously were at with coffee.
I used to drink coffee all the time at just a constant level. Then I just got tired of feeling "dependent" on something and weaned off over a couple of weeks. Which was fine when you don't do it cold turkey -- just a little less energy each day but easily manageable.
Now I still drink coffee sometimes but I use it as a temporary performance tool. I'll "start up again" on any particular day where I have a ton of meetings, where I didn't get enough sleep, where I have to do a lot of physical stuff, etc. Often this might be several days in a row, where I increase my coffee each day a little more relative to the previous day for the same effect.
But then as soon as the demands stop, I immediately taper off to zero again, usually taking 2-5 days to do so. Not really because I "don't want to be dependent", but because I want to make sure I can get the full effect of coffee again the next time I need it, whether that's in a week or a month or three months.
It's kind of weird that I'm always fully aware of exactly how much I'm "dosing" myself with coffee. I'm almost always either "tapering up", "tapering down", or just off of it completely.
But it's very effective as a tool that way. Way more effective than when I just drank the same amount every day, which I discovered was no different from not drinking any at all (after tapering off).