[pmontra]

One data point: I can drink 3 espressos at midnight, go to bed and fall asleep. Apparently I'm immune to caffeine which is both good (I can have a coffee at any time of the day) and bad (if I'm sleepy and I have to drive a coffee won't wake me up.) Maybe I also won't get any of those exercise performance effects.

[galangalalgol]

I am also like this. And after long periods of high intake iycan quit with no withdrawal. After I was diagnosed (as an adult) with ADHD my doctor told me caffeine doesn't affect people with ADHD the same way.

Edit: I can say that a pre-workout with 300mg made positive differences in a progress plot on a beginning strength program. But there were other things in there too. When I switched to coffee, creatine, beta alanine, and taurine, the effects did not persist.

[ehnto]

Caffeine doesn't necessarily stop everyone from sleeping, but it has been shown to still affect sleep quality if you do manage to get to sleep. It also might be that you're falling asleep before the caffeine has a chance to interrupt your sleepiness.

I felt the same way as you and would often have coffee before bed, but since stopping that practice I feel much, much more rested. I stop 6 hours before intending to go to sleep, since that's about the half-life of caffeine in the body. Everyone is probably a little different in their ability to process caffeine, but this has been working for me.

[mft_]

My anecdata: this changed with age. At university I was disappointed that caffeine pills did nothing perceptible; and in my mid-to-late 20s I too could sleep well after multiple late espressos.

Now in my early 40s I feel the effects of coffee more directly (a physiological buzz if I have more than usual in the morning) and falling asleep and probably sleep quality both seem to suffer if I’ve not allowed a sufficient washout period - which now requires most of the afternoon and evening.

[aqme28]

What happens if you quit caffeine for a while? Have you tried to measure your tolerance?

I've found that caffeine tolerance is a huge factor in how it affects me, but tolerance changes quickly. A month off of caffeine for me is a complete reset and a few weeks do a lot to drop my tolerance.

[executesorder66]

I also have a very high tolerance for caffeine. I took 3 months off caffeine, (I just quit cold turkey) then went right back to it. I didn't notice any changes in tolerance, enjoyment, cravings, or anything else. And for reference I normally drink about 8-10 cups a day.

[pmontra]

Sometimes I don't have a coffee for weeks or months because it's good but it doesn't have any effect on me. I never had problems at getting asleep in either case.

[papito]

There is such a thing as a "coffee power nap". I won't go into the science of it, but it basically makes sense to fall asleep after having a cup of coffee (but not at night).

That said, you may fall asleep, but you don't know how the quality and depth of your sleep is affected. You can be sleeping for 10 hours and still wake up wrecked.

[datacruncher01]

Have you been diagnosed with ADHD? Caffeine has a similar affect on one of my children who does have ADHD. Not that we're giving him espressos at midnight, but during the day a caffeinated beverage will slow him down similar to a small booster dose of adhd medication.

[sph]

I am diagnosed with ADHD and ultra sensitive to caffeine. A can of coke at 8pm and I'm awake till 2am. A cup of homebrew coffee and it's 50/50 if it's gonna make me anxious all day. Definitely jittery and faster heart rate.

Conversely, amphetamine relaxes me, lowers my blood pressure and my pulse rate by 15 bpm. Though I am very aware it would not let me sleep if I tried to.

(I do not mix the two. I was a daily two cup drinker until my diagnosis, now it's a coke zero once a week if any)

YMMV.

[datacruncher01]

Indeed, not everyone with ADHD is going to have the same reaction to caffeine so it may not be the strongest correlation. I did look into it in the past and for a number of people with ADHD it has an opposite effect of what it does for other people.

For those folks, it won't give them a burst of energy unless they drink a lot of coffee and a smaller amount can conversely calm them down. Caffeine works through a separate neurotransmitter process than ADHD meds (it blocks adenosine receptors whereas adhd meds boost dopamine and norepinephrine) which may be helping some people by lowering neuron stressors which incidentally helps relieve ADHD symptoms.

[sph]

> it won't give them a burst of energy unless they drink a lot of coffee and a smaller amount can conversely calm them down

That might just be addiction? Nicotine relaxes smokers, but because they're in withdrawal when they do not smoke.

[pmontra]

I'm afraid that I can't help you with this. ADHD didn't exist or wasn't known as such when I was little. I wasn't like somebody with ADHD tough.

[nicoburns]

Yeah, it’s crazy how different peoples responses to caffeine are. One cup of tea at 9am will affect my sleep!

[jack_pp]

have you tried modafinil? might not be the best solution for long drives except if you plan well ahead, like say if you have a late 4h drive after which you will sleep maybe take modafinil 6-7h before the drive so you can actually sleep when it's over

[lostlogin]

Modafinil might make you smarter too.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16140369/

[jack_pp]

personally I've tried to use it for work and it's hit or miss, if I have some frustrating bugs I'll be more irritable on modafinil or caffeine because while on them I want to achieve things fast and I'll be more easily irritated if I'm blocked by long running tests or other long periods where it's not clear how to proceed.

[yamtaddle]

There are genes associated with very high levels of caffeine tolerance. Could be that.