Optimal Caffeine Intake: iPhone App

If any of you were thoughtful enough to notice my short time away from the website, it is because I have recently had to pull three all nighters in a row. I crashed pretty hard last night for some reason- just as I thought I was getting my third wind.

I began to feel that if I appropriately timed my coffee breaks, I could achieve more moments where my mind forgot about my lack of rest and focused in on the Excel spreadsheet at hand. I then l started to obsess over my caffeine intake, and apparently, rightly so.

According to two doctors at Penn State University, there actually is an optimal amount of caffeine one can obtain in their blood stream:

Doctors Frank E. Ritter and Kuo-Chuan Yeh, pored through peer-reviewed studies. They found that between 200 and 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine in your bloodstream provides optimal mental alertness, and that below 100mg of caffeine is ideal for sleeping.

The two doctors, just like any good capitalists, developed an app called Caffeine Zone that has a fancy graph that tells you the amount of caffeine in your blood stream. By knowing where your body lies, the doctors also prescribe when to repurchase your Venti, half-skinny half-1 percent, extra hot split-quad latte.

Does anyone else buy into the Caffeine Zone? Is there really a caffeine optimum, or, is more coffee always better?

11 Comments
 

it is the same thing with almost anything you put in your body.

For example, your body can only benefit from x amount of protein at a given time.

You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake, son.
 
AndyLouis3 all nighters in a row?! hope your md is happy. don't turn into christian bale from The Machinist...
More importantly, Christian Bale from American Psycho.
 

There is truth to the fact there's an optimal zone.

Having lived in China now for more than three years, I like to obtain optimal status through (1) drinking a large cup of coffee from starbucks at 9am and then (2) between 12 noon and 6pm drinking green tea at a rate of one cup per hour. The green tea gives a smooth, healthy, strong type of alertness, and fades away quickly and easily.

sometimes in case I've got time for a longer/bigger workout than usual, I'll throw down an extra espresso at like 7pm right before i hit the gym... but i only do that if I'm going to have time to work out for a while (like an hour), otherwise it'll keep me up.

 

You were up 72 hrs+ on caffeine alone? No hitting up the bathroom stall with a line or two of blow?? lol

or really (if you are too shy to admit here), no adderoll at the least? how the hell does caffeine work for you that well??

 

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