[groby_b]

I just wish articles like this would lead with a tiny bit of research. The web is flooded with "here's how I think you can work better" articles, but very few go beyond personal anecdotes. As such, many of them are just not that useful.

Here are few things that would've been beneficial in giving a better foundation to this article - it would've been a much better starting point for actually taking action, for one thing.

BRAC/ultradian rhythm cover the basic idea of a cyclical nature of focus.

Basic neurological effects of caffeine and withdrawal cover the idea that caffeine is a zero-sum game.

The Hawthorne effect[1] covers the idea of "Macro-caffeine"

There are quite a few case studies[2] to support the idea that stress reduction improves productivity.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect [2] http://www.amazon.com/Preventing-Stress-Improving-Productivi...

[casca]

While the Hawthorne Effect is widely cited, even after many years the results have not been reliably reproduced so it should be invoked cautiously.

[groby_b]

It is certainly a debated effect, but at least it'd be a starting point for a discussion. As is, the article is "well, for me...". Any further discussion or research is impossible since it is a purely personal anecdote.

(N.B., since on re-reading this is less than clear from my original post: I did not intend to give a definitive answer to any of the items raised in the article. I do not possess the knowledge to do so. I merely intended to point out trivial starting points for research for this article)

[Piskvorrr]

Or, more likely, "here's how I think I can work better; you give it a try too".

[slexaxton]

Agreed, this is what I did say several times in the article, as well as calling much of it non-scientific. Though I did cite 2 scientific studies, and some non-trivial biology, I meant the article as a personal experience piece more so than a case-study for what everyone should do.