Coffee

Ever since I stopped smoking, I drink a ton of caffeine and find myself occasionally amused by others' notion of prodigious consumption -- "drank my crack, starbucks iced coffee, two of them" -- Beutler told me yesterday afternoon he'd been so tired he drank two coffees and a Diet Coke which is what I drank before 9AM Saturday morning and had easily doubled by noon.

At any rate, I really didn't use to be like this. Always enjoyed my morning coffee and my diet sodas, but without the constant cigarette-based infusions of stimulant, it's a whole different story. Much better for me than the previous situation, I suppose, but for 2008 I should probably work on getting things under control.

Comments

You know, you might want to try rhodiola rosea. You can get Planetary Formula's rhodiola over at www.iherb.com for about $9.00. Great price, great adaptogen. When I was biking across the states, I couldn't go a mile in the morning without a cup of coffee - or, and much better - without a morning dose of rhodiola. Very highly recommended.

Posted by Auden | August 5, 2007 11:18 AM

Second the recommendation for rhodiola. I need very large quantities of stimulants to compensate for one of the country's really profoundly screwed up metabolisms, and have been finding that while caffeine is my friend, and so's sugar, they are better friends when they are not my only friends. I have a great fondness for the caffeine-left-in version of the Good Earth house blend tea, available in lots of supermarkets. It combines caffeine with a bunch of other stimulants, which take effect and release on different schedules, so that there's a longer-lasting, softer-passing buzz from it.

Now for the truly hardcore moments, it's hard to beat the XTZ soda line. It's what Jolt wants to grow up to be but never will 'coz it's a wimp. That stuff makes you vibrate.

Posted by Bruce Baugh | August 5, 2007 11:23 AM

Brad DeLong had a post I can't find about the caffeine consumption of various academics. I do recall that Jacob Levy's intake put him near the top.

8 am. Triple espresso. 300 mg.

8:30 am. Breve latte with an extra shot (i.e. a triple espresso with steamed half-and-half). 300 mg.

10:45 am. Diet Coke. 45 mg.

12 noon. 1 cup brewed coffee. c. 100 mg.

2:30 pm. Diet Coke. 45 mg.

3:30 pm. Dan suggests we take a quick break from office hours and get a snack. He gets a Toll House brownie bar. I get another triple espresso. 300 mg.

With dinner: Diet Dr. Pepper. 41 mg.

Total: 1131 mg.

Posted by ogged | August 5, 2007 11:26 AM

Sheesh, how do you sleep at night?

Posted by sofia | August 5, 2007 11:26 AM

Have you considered some of the milder antidepressants?

Posted by Antid Oto | August 5, 2007 11:28 AM

oh, I'll add another little suggestion for morning energy and motivation... DMAE. A little DMAE in the morning (not every morning) makes me feel... not so much stimulated, but simply 'motivated' to do stuff. As a huge procrastinator, it's a neat supplement to have around. And it's super-cheap; you can pick some up at www.beyond-a-century.com (they also have a huge selection of interesting adaptogens, including rhodiola, in powdered bulk form).

Posted by Auden | August 5, 2007 11:29 AM

Aha, here's the Delong post.

Posted by ogged | August 5, 2007 11:33 AM

Caffeine (and nicotine) consumption have been shown to reduce Alzheimer's risk later in life. So cutting down isn't that important. I sometimes wish I drank more coffee

Posted by Chad Okere | August 5, 2007 11:35 AM

We are so going to find you dumpster diving Starbucks pushing your cart and blogging your iPhone and begging Ezra to throw a few links your way.

Posted by jerry | August 5, 2007 11:40 AM

Matt, you should be careful. I did the same thing after I quit and eventually it messed me up pretty badly. Sleeplessness, depression, stomach pains. You should start thinking about your post-quitting quitting plan.

Posted by MattNotYglesias | August 5, 2007 11:41 AM

"Much better for me than the previous situation, I suppose, but for 2008 I should probably work on getting things under control."

I recommend a combination of methamphetamine and glue sniffing to wean yourself off of caffeine.

Posted by Petey | August 5, 2007 11:44 AM

"Chemically-enhanced blogger Yglesias defends chemically-enhanced slugger Bonds!"

Posted by lampwick | August 5, 2007 11:57 AM

Sheesh, how do you sleep at night?

And how many of your waking hours are spent in the restroom?

Posted by SoCalJustice | August 5, 2007 12:00 PM

"And how many of your waking hours are spent in the restroom?"

I've always wondered why, whenever I used to stay up late or all night and had larges amount of caffeine, it'd act as even bigger diuretic than usual.

Posted by Brian | August 5, 2007 12:14 PM

In terms of looking at your overall energy level, how much do you exercise? Trying to increase your overall basal metabolism rate might help get the addiction under control.

Posted by Respectful Dissent | August 5, 2007 1:15 PM

Try lots of green tea.

Posted by dbt | August 5, 2007 1:27 PM

Get the real scoop on caffeine at www.CaffeineAwareness.org
And if you drink decaf you wont want to miss this special FREE report on the Dangers of Decaf available at www.soyfee.com

Posted by Jack | August 5, 2007 2:24 PM

when i was writing my senior thesis at ivy league u this past year, typical consumption was:

1 12 oz cup - AM

1 single espresso - PM

1-2 12 oz cup (s) - late PM

with occasionally a double cappuccino in the AM if it had been a really late night.

Seemed to work out fine.

BTW, Starbucks has the worst tasting coffee in the country. I don't know how anyone can drink that stuff.

Posted by google | August 5, 2007 2:25 PM

The guy at the espresso stand got tired of my lame jokes, and tried to assassinate me, by giving me a quintupple espresso for the same price, "because it's closing time".

Didn't work.

Posted by serial catowner | August 5, 2007 2:26 PM

When I was working, I had a friend who drank coffee all day for the caffeine and then a six pack of beer at night to come down from his caffeine high. Of course, the caffeine the next day was to counteract the beer from the night before. What a roller coaster ride!!!
He found out what a bad idea that was when we ran out of high test at the office and started using just decaf. After a couple of days he started complaining of headaches. I told him he had been drinking decaf and he finally realized what was happening.

Posted by sootytern | August 5, 2007 2:46 PM

It finally caught up to me at age 36. I would typically drink 3 to 4 large cups- which if I'm honest is probably 8 cups- a day.

I slowly began having episodes where I'd wake up in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. I attributed it to being hot or something. It wasn't until I changed jobs and didn't have access to the bottomless pot of coffee that magically my sleep patterns went back to normal.

Posted by P | August 5, 2007 3:24 PM

I was going to post some comment about Matt's stated intake not impressing me much, and I find that ogged has already served as the blogosphere's memory of my caffeine caffeine consumption.

My work here is done; I'm so proud!

Just remember: it's good for you.

Posted by Jacob T. Levy | August 5, 2007 3:44 PM

Is it the taste of the coffee you like, the sugar, or the caffeine?

If it's the caffeine that you feel you need in order to get your job done, you may wish to ask why your job is putting you to sleep and what you are going to do about that.

Posted by jerry | August 5, 2007 3:47 PM

Nicotine is a great self-medication, it has the unusual property of being both an antidepressant and a stimulant. The drug docs prescribe to quit smoking, Zyban (Bupropion )is as well.

All that extra caffeine is to replace the stimulation nicotine gave you. Go see a doctor and get some real medication.

Posted by beowulf | August 5, 2007 4:50 PM

I used to average about a pot of coffee a day, though, it was throughout the entire day. In an effort to cut back on that, since I have no will power of my own, I now use a one-cup coffee maker and only drink about 2-3 mugs of coffee a day since it's such a pain in the ass to make a cup of coffee now. Sacrifice, that's what it's all about.

Posted by Fred F. | August 5, 2007 5:23 PM

Try carrying a bottle of spring water wherever you go and take swigs of that whenever you're thirsty. Frankly, while very funny, you did appear to be a bit wired in that video interview.

And get exercise everyday -- walking is good.

Posted by sofia | August 5, 2007 6:29 PM

I was always amused when my friend measured his coffee consumption in pots rather than cups.

Posted by theCoach | August 5, 2007 6:40 PM

when i drove a truck, i'd drink a quart abt every 2 hrs.

Posted by sameoldjeff | August 5, 2007 8:21 PM

Just stop drinking caffeine. It will hurt for 6 weeks, then you will wonder what the hoopla was all about. I am ten years clean, from both tobacco and caffeine. I will have an occasional small coffee on the weekends, which sends me unpleasantly into orbit. It is just an addictive stimulant, nothing more. Find something interesting to occupy your time during the withdrawal.

Posted by Grumble | August 5, 2007 10:23 PM

Six weeks sounds like an awful long time to come off a caffeine addiction. I'm a fairly heavy coffee drinker and after a couple of days, I'm fine. Like nicotine addiction, caffeine addiction is almost entirely mental. Convince yourself you don't want it anymore, that you're better off without it (if that's the case), and you'll find it's easier than you think to give up.

Posted by Matt Schiavenza | August 5, 2007 11:51 PM

Have you considered half-caf? I used to need three cups in the morning to get going, and when I switched to half-caf I still needed only three cups to feel ready to work.

Posted by Ian | August 6, 2007 7:58 AM

I had similar problems as the other poster, waking up in the middle of the night unable to return to sleep, but that was from 2 or more pints of craft brewed beer too soon before bed. What cured me of my caffeine addiction was a huge amount of pu-ehr tea every day. Maybe a half gallon?

Posted by Keith | August 6, 2007 9:11 AM

Drink water instead of coffee. Most midday lethargy is really due to dehydration. Typically stuff like drinking too much coffee or diet soda or overeating happens because your body has figured out that this (however inefficiently) solves your water problem. Better just to go for the real stuff. Or make some rule like, "Drink one glass of water before any cup of coffee."

Posted by Mike | August 6, 2007 2:24 PM