Add caffeine thingy that has been on my mind for a while.

johnfn · Oct 16, 2011 · 1d03d3b · 1d03d3b
1 parent 0f5bb68
commit 1d03d3b
Show file tree

Hide file tree

Showing 3 changed files with 96 additions and 1 deletion.
diff --git a/entries/musings8 b/entries/musings8
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+TITLE:
+You're Using Caffeine Wrong.
+DATE:
+Saturday, 15 October 2011
+BODY:
+
+That's right. First, caffeine is a tool to be "used". Second, you're using it wrong. Well, probably.
+
+Most people I know who drink caffeine drink it <em> every day</em>. Or if they don't drink it every day, they drink it when they're tired - either late at night, or early in the morning after not enough sleep.
+
+All of those habits are wrong.
+
+The problem with drinking caffeine every day is that you get acclimated to it. Let's drop all pretense: caffeine is a <em>drug.</em> Like cocaine. (Except less dangerous.) Just like any other drug, you can become acclimated to it's effects. And just like any other drug, you can suffer withdrawal if you don't have some after you've become acclimated.
+
+There's a good story about this. See, people undergoing certain types of surgery have to stop all caffeine intake for almost a day before the surgery. And after the surgery they would suffer really bad headaches. Doctors thought that it was the surgery at first, but it was amazing how well a cup of coffee would rid the problems...
+
+If you drink your latte every day, you've become acclimated, and the caffeine won't have the same effects that it once did. This is easy to prove. Stop drinking coffee for a few days. You'll have some headaches. That's withdrawal. After maybe 4 days, drink a latte. You'll be amazed. You'll get a massive amount of energy, you'll be much more productive, and also, you'll just be happier. 
+
+So people who drink caffeine every day have acclimated themselves to it, and get comparatively few benefits.
+
+The right way to use caffeine is to drink it comparatively infrequently. Once every 4 days seems to work for me - long enough for me not to get acclimated.
+
+The other misconception with caffein is that you shouldn't drink it when you're really tired. Studies have shown that, when you're tired, caffeine doesn't really wake you up - it just makes you more jittery. A nice analogy I once read is that drinking caffeine is like taking away the chaperones at a high school dance. Yeah... just think through all the implications of that one. 
+
+Anyway, caffeine's uselessness when you're tired is easy to prove to yourself too. The next time you're tired, try taking a 30 minute nap instead of a cup of coffee. You'll find that the nap is a lot more effective at refreshing you than coffee would have been.
+
+NOTWITTER:
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ <h1><a href="index.html" style="text-decoration:none">blog|<span class="flat">in
 
       <div class="date"> 
 
-				Sunday, October 09 2011
+				Saturday, October 15 2011
 
       </div>
 
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ <h1><a href="index.html" style="text-decoration:none">blog|<span class="flat">in
 <li><a href='musings6.html'>Coding Princples
 </a>
 <li><a href='musings7.html'>Better Living through Mediocrity
+</a>
+<li><a href='musings8.html'>You're Using Caffeine Wrong.
 </a></ol> <p> </p><p> I'm learning Haskell. Thoughts go here.
  </p><ol reversed><li><a href='haskell1.html'>Haskell
 

diff --git a/musings8.html b/musings8.html
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+<head>
+  <meta charset='utf-8'>
+
+  <title>johnfn's blog @ GitHub</title>
+
+  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />
+</head>
+
+<body>
+  <div id="container">
+		<h1><a href="index.html" style="text-decoration:none">blog|<span class="flat">musings</span></a>
+      <span class="small" style="float:right">by johnfn. This is <a href="http://github.com/johnfn/johnfn">a github repository</a>, generated from flat text files. It's pretty neat. And open source. Check it out! </span></h1>
+    <div class="post">
+      <div class="title">
+				You're Using Caffeine Wrong.
+
+      </div>
+      <div class="date"> 
+				Saturday, 15 October 2011
+
+      </div>
+      <div class="body">
+
+				<p>
+</p> <p>That's right. First, caffeine is a tool to be "used". Second, you're using it wrong. Well, probably.
+
+</p> <p>Most people I know who drink caffeine drink it <em> every day</em>. Or if they don't drink it every day, they drink it when they're tired - either late at night, or early in the morning after not enough sleep.
+
+</p> <p>All of those habits are wrong.
+
+</p> <p>The problem with drinking caffeine every day is that you get acclimated to it. Let's drop all pretense: caffeine is a <em>drug.</em> Like cocaine. (Except less dangerous.) Just like any other drug, you can become acclimated to it's effects. And just like any other drug, you can suffer withdrawal if you don't have some after you've become acclimated.
+
+</p> <p>There's a good story about this. See, people undergoing certain types of surgery have to stop all caffeine intake for almost a day before the surgery. And after the surgery they would suffer really bad headaches. Doctors thought that it was the surgery at first, but it was amazing how well a cup of coffee would rid the problems...
+
+</p> <p>If you drink your latte every day, you've become acclimated, and the caffeine won't have the same effects that it once did. This is easy to prove. Stop drinking coffee for a few days. You'll have some headaches. That's withdrawal. After maybe 4 days, drink a latte. You'll be amazed. You'll get a massive amount of energy, you'll be much more productive, and also, you'll just be happier. 
+
+</p> <p>So people who drink caffeine every day have acclimated themselves to it, and get comparatively few benefits.
+
+</p> <p>The right way to use caffeine is to drink it comparatively infrequently. Once every 4 days seems to work for me - long enough for me not to get acclimated.
+
+</p> <p>The other misconception with caffein is that you shouldn't drink it when you're really tired. Studies have shown that, when you're tired, caffeine doesn't really wake you up - it just makes you more jittery. A nice analogy I once read is that drinking caffeine is like taking away the chaperones at a high school dance. Yeah... just think through all the implications of that one. 
+
+</p> <p>Anyway, caffeine's uselessness when you're tired is easy to prove to yourself too. The next time you're tired, try taking a 30 minute nap instead of a cup of coffee. You'll find that the nap is a lot more effective at refreshing you than coffee would have been.
+
+</p> <p></p>
+				<p> </p>
+				<p> </p>
+				<p> </p>
+				<p>
+
+				</p>
+      </div>
+
+
+      <a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="vertical" data-via="thedayturns">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
+      <iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=170533823007150&amp;href&amp;send=false&amp;layout=button_count&amp;width=450&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;font=arial&amp;height=21" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:21px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="footer">
+			{{ FOOTER }}
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</body>
+</html>