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More To Coffee Buzz Than Caffeine
MrByte420 writes "WebMD has story about every computer geek's favorite beverage enhancer. Seems like there's more to the kick than just the caffeine that makes coffee a favorite amongst the sleep deprived programmers of the world. Some more information can be found here with some interesting details why decaf can keep ya up and wired too. In related news, scientists report no progress in determining why the best computer code is written at 4:27 AM on a tuesday morning surrounded by a box of Mountain Dew."
the blood pressure of occasional drinkers rose.
Followed by:
potentially adverse effects of coffee on the heart could be less hazardous in regular drinkers with normal blood pressure.
The link here doesn't seem very clear. Are they trying to say that blood pressure rises with occasional use, but regular drinkers don't suffer raised blood pressure?
In related news, scientists report no progress in determining why the best computer code is written at 4:27 AM on a tuesday morning surrounded by a box of Mountain Dew.
If the scientists would just get a good night's sleep and return to the code the next day, they would discover that the reason they are having difficulty figuring out why the code is so good at 4:27 AM is that the code is complete garbage when seen in the light of day.
Unless you're one of the single digit percentage people in the world with truly unusual sleep needs, if the code you're writing at 4:27 AM is the same quality as the code you write during normal hours, your code must be seriously shitty all the time!
Sleep! Most of us need it, and I often wonder how many of those who don't are just fooling themselves...
Take this post for instance. What I ought to do is just hit CTRL-W to close the tab and go to bed, 'cause this is worthless flamebait. Instead, because my judgement is impaired because it's late where I am, I'm going to post this and subject myself to CowboyNeal-only-knows how many self-styled "sleep masters" explaining how they need only 10 minutes of sleep a week. Learn from my incipient disaster... sleep!
The reason that some people write their best code at 4:27 in the morning is because they slack off and don't do their homework until 4:00 AM the night before it's due, and it therefore becomes the only code they're writing. If it's the only code, it must be the bset code.
Look at it again in 6 years when you know what you're doing and see if it still seems so good. I know I'm embarrased by what I though was good code back then.
It's not simply a matter of being addicted to caffeine. You need only 4 hours of sleep per night. Congratulations. You're a member of a distinguished crowd, including Thomas Edison and Leonardo da Vinci.
But not everybody can get by on that much, even those who have never touched caffeine. Most pople are dangerous in automobiles after only 20 hours without sleep.
Be careful in generalizing your experiences.