[quackerhacker]

As a coder, the only real drug I’ve ever really needed has been caffeine. This didn’t start until recently so I’m not sure if I can attribute it to age (early 30’s). My real dependence on caffeine is mainly due to staying up too late the night before (like right now, about 0200 here) and needing to get up and function with 5hrs of sleep and maintain my mental acuity for the workload I have.

To give you an idea of my caffeine intake...about 2 venti black coffees and an 8oz Red Bull.

[zaarn]

You can replace the Red Bull with another black coffee and a glass of orange juice, the effective contents are the same.

I also absolutely do recommend to drink an acidic juice in the morning before any coffee, it brightens up the day significantly.

[mercer]

> I also absolutely do recommend to drink an acidic juice in the morning before any coffee, it brightens up the day significantly.

Could you elaborate on that?

[zaarn]

I find that acidic juices such as Orange or Ananas juice cleans out most of the gunk that builds up overnight and gives you a short boost through the sugar in them. The sugar can usually cover until the coffee after begins to work so you don't get that period of slouch after drinking coffee before it works (drinking something warm tends to make drowsy too so you possibly get more tired after drinking coffee). Skipping/preventing this short moment of weakness improves on the day a lot.

[mercer]

would adding sugar to the coffee have the same effect?

[zaarn]

Not to my knowledge, the acidity of the juice helps a lot to get more awake very quickly, pure sugar itself doesn't help that much to get the continous effect.

[bfuller]

..but coffee is also acidic? what am I missing here?

[wmeredith]

You may know this, but you're kidding yourself if you think your mental acuity is anything near optimal on 5 hrs of sleep. I don't care what you're drinking.

[quackerhacker]

It takes about an hour before I can start churning clean code and start any code reviews, so I think I’m ok. Really, it’s the 3 in the afternoon feeling that is the drain for me. Alertness fades and I can’t even listen to music without an occasional syntax error.

[bfuller]

You're kidding yourself if you think every human has the same sleep needs. For me 5 to 7 hours is optimal, 8 hours or more leaves me sluggish for the day.

[jdavis703]

If I'm working from home all I need is caffeine. But regularly working out of a large open-office floor plan I need help keeping focused and keeping my anxiety down, neither of which caffeine is particularly good for.