How many of you actually study without any sort of aiding substance such as coffee or vitamin pills? I do, for instance.

I don't use any aid but it makes it more difficult sometimes. I just eat wholesome food and work out to make my brain have enough energy to process difficult matter.

you may want to eat many apples, then you'll become as fast as an apple doctor levitating train 😄

I avoid pills and artificial stimulants. I don't want to get dragged into the side effects or downsides, self-medication without professional advice is a terrible idea in general, and an exam or whatever isn't worth fucking my health over.

Besides, with a bit of discipline I study just fine without all that, with natural stimulants in relatively rare cases. I have a few cups of green tea a week and maybe one cup of coffee. A good night's sleep does wonders for efficiency too.

I used to be a heavy coffee drinker, then switched it out for green tea and I've been slowly decreasing that too and now it's pretty rare already. No difference in output.

Seems an odd question to me - I don't use any kind of stimulants to study, and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't either (aside from maybe a cup of coffee if it's late or early.)

@mysth yes and no.

it's different, based on e.g. country -/ culture.

Erm, coffee is just a substance to keep your body running, not really a stimulant. I couldn’t even imagine being awake w/o consuming a cup/h on avg

Recent studies show that coffee tastes good.

I don't drink any coffee or take any stimulants in order to study. _Maybe_ if I'm too tired and have to pull an all nighter then I _might_ drink a bit of coffee, but not much. I like to take 20min naps during the day, they restore a lot of my energy and focus.

Also basically what @RememberMe said, I don't like taking any sort medication without being told to do so by a doctor.

I don't drink, I don't smoke, no coffee, no drugs, no nothing. I'm super c l e a n.

@100110111 coffee is a stimulant and if you can't stay awake during a whole day without it there might be something wrong... You should definitely check that out and reduce your coffee. I'm no specialist but I doubt drinking this much coffee can be good for you.

@neeno it's a drug. Me without coffee = headache of hell

@IntrusionCM damn dude, that can't be good

I don't need coffee to study, just to function in general 😏

@neeno it's the gaffa tape that keeps me from falling apart :)

@mysth makes sense, but still, doesn't sound very healthy :p

I think I'm on the more predictable pattern side of things, but I'm a bit disorganized. Sometimes I go to bed at 10, sometimes at midnight, sometimes I wake up at 5, sometimes at 9, sometimes I work the whole morning, sometimes I work the whole afternoon. But I'm trying to get a better schedule, I've started going to bed at 11 and getting up at 7:30, working the whole morning and a bit in the afternoon. Let's see how long I can keep doing this 😅

Also, I just realized I lied. I like a bit of coffee mixed with milk and chocolate powder in the winter, it does give me some energy and helps me keep warm (I still don't drink a lot though). However, right now in the summer I just can't drink it, it's too hot.

@mysth this.

During heavy episodes of sleep deprivation I cannot function without coffee.

It keeps me awake during day so I sleep at night. Otherwise I'd fall in the (for me) very dangerous trap of sleeping during the day... Which nukes my bio rhythm completely.

@neeno that coffee "withdrawal" headache is apparently not that dramatic. It's just that coffee does smth. with your blood and if you drink coffee often enough your body gets used to it and steers against (smth. with blood pressure or vessel size, idk).
Now when you skip coffee for a day your body still steers against as it's used to. But there wasn't anything to steer against. That causes a headache.

Writing it down I realize how holey my knowledge is. damn.

But anyways. common problem amongst people who drink lots of coffee during work

I have ADHD, adderall helps me tremendously lol

I am constantly hopped up on enough nicotine, caffeine and cannabis to euthanize a horse.

I don't think I've EVER in like 25 years programmed not on some cocktail of drugs/alcohol.

I quit the booze 4 years ago, but man I used to code black out drunk and wake up hungover to working git pushes... written by god fucking knows who, but not me.

depends on where the boundaries of "aiding substance" ends for you...

I can barely get work done without some nice misosoup or fried fish...

I don't use caffeine or alcohol (or other heavier drugs like Adderall) when I put in big work but I do have some "aiding" substances that help me out (misosoup and fried fish).

@HiFiWiFiSciFi Meh, as long as it's unable to euthanize an antarctic blue whale, I'm not impressed.

Beer helps me tremendously.

10/10

@neeno nah, is normal. I don’t really think much more coffee than the avg jane/joe around here

I try to only drink caffeine during insane deadlines

Hell no to taking stuff for studying

I dont feel ever the need for coffee, but lately I enjoy it in the morning. I code most of the heavy stuff during the nights, my girlfriend is hating me for doing so 😅 but knows too I am less distracted and can focus more.

I tried microdosing for a couple months two times a week. I dont recommend the experience as there is a high probability is not gonna fit you and you have to be careful, relaxed and feel truly comfortable, but all said, I loved the experience and it allowed me to see and think further on my work and could sit next to my plants between breaks and see the mesmerizing beauty on them

@RememberMe Excellent, wise thinking.

@mysth I don't know by heart, but those that are supposed to help you with mental effort, err, such as some kind of.. plant root.. in the form of a chewy candy-like square gummy. I used that one only once in my life.. supposed to aid concentration.

@AlmondSauce I ask it because I know many, many people who do and who even take vitamin pills for breakfast, noon and evening just to be super-boosted all the time for work, but now they end up looking like helpless junkies. LoL I have to be careful not to discuss substances.

@100110111 Well I found out it's a central-nervous-system psychoactive stimulant. One such paper, from Google Scholar:

http://ico.org/event_pdfs/...

Also here, "The caffeine in coffee is a bioactive compound with stimulatory effects on the central nervous system":

https://sciencedirect.com/science/...

@neeno That's what a lot of the big brains in the 20th century did, the short naps. Good method. :)

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