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Caffeine Half-Life Calculator
- hirundo 3y agoI stop caffeine intake around noon, and was just disillusioned about it being out of my system by bed time nine hours later.
- biugbkifcjk 3y agoI'm the same, 1pm is an absolute cut off otherwise it'll be a restless night
- archerx 3y agoI build tolerance to caffeine very quickly for some reason. One night I drank two redbulls so I could finish a project (I had been drinking a lot of coffee and energy drinks during that period) and decided to take a quick nap before going into crunch mode and ended up sleeping the entire night. I had a redbull yesterday at 17:30 and fell asleep with no problem at 22:30. If I want the true effects of the energy drinks I have to use them sparingly or else my tolerance ramps up and it doesn’t give me the energy buzz but kinda makes me sleepy...
- ycombinete 3y agoCaffeine affects sleep quality as well as the ability to fall asleep. So just falling asleep doesn't mean you aren't suffering any negative effects.
- sschueller 3y agoYes, I can sleep even with very high amounts but my sleep quality is horrific. Although sleeping through the night you wake up like you didn't sleep at all.
- Frummy 3y agoI used to be a hardcore caffeine aficionado. I learned that if I took it after lunch, my sleep would be impacted, not noticeably on one day but the effect stacks since it's a daily habit and that long term rejuvenation is worse. Eventually my father listened to some podcast and became opinionated about artificial caffeine and didn't want me to drink energy drinks.
- refurb 3y agoGenetic differences can alter caffeine metabolism significantly, reducing half-life by up to 80% (which has a huge impact since it’s typically 5-6 half-lives to “flush” a drug out of your system). Basically it may take some individuals 48 hours to metabolize all caffeine while others may do it in 10 hours. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2800839 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
- coreyh14444 3y agoI'm in this camp and it sucks. If I have a full size cup of coffee at 5am, my sleep will suffer. Otherwise fit, healthy dude in my 40s, but have the caffeine tolerance of a toddler.
- sschueller 3y agoWorking out seems to also affect this. The days I workout I can "tolerate" more than when not.
- red-iron-pine 3y agosame. a hard workout beats me up and gets me sleeping like a baby. i'd imagine the blood pumping, sweat, lots of water intake, and boost to metabolism probably doesn't hurt either.
- code_duck 3y agoHow quickly is caffeine absorbed? The chart shows the entire dose taking effect instantly.
- HDMI_Cable 3y agoApparently 99% of it is absorbed within 45 minutes [1]. —- [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/
- lucideer 3y agoGiven studies associating positive health outcomes with 2-4 cups a day (no idea what defines a cup), would the implied extrapolation here be that a small amount of caffeine during sleep is helpful (holistically)?
- ilaksh 3y agoMy own assumption is that it's _very_ helpful (for the coffee or other industries that commission or promote such information).
- catboybotnet 3y ago+1 There are plenty of studies showing X is good for your health (in moderation, of course!), usually all funded by companies selling X. Got milk?
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoLook up “coffee flavinoids”. There are plenty of health podcasters promoting coffee and green tea consumption who are independent (Rhonda Patrick, Andrew Huberman, Peter Attis) By the way, decaf coffee appears to have the same flavonoid content as caffeinated.
- voytec 3y agoSmokers have shorter caffeine half-life (wish I knew that when I was quitting smoking) while birth control drugs or liver problems can extend it.
- smegsicle 3y agohttps://sci-hub.se/10.1002/cpt197824140 https://sci-hub.se/10.1002/cpt197824140 > Mean caffeine t1/2 in smokers (3.5 hr) was shorter than that in the nonsmokers (6.0 hr). small study but that's pretty cool
- kebsup 3y agoThe graph ends at 22:00, but I go to sleep at around 2:00. :(
- sschueller 3y agoMaybe it was just changes but it appears to end at 10:00 am the next day
- smcl 3y agoIf anyone's not sure what values to input, it looks like the values provided (67mg and 130mg) are for roughly one 40-50ml serving of espresso followed by 2x that (a double espresso). I usually have one espresso (or lungo) after breakfast and another after lunch. So this means that this extra shot at ~13:00 means I have over 2.4x the caffeine in my system at 22:00 than if I'd only had the morning coffee (3.6mg vs 8.83mg). Not sure whether I expected any different since twice the coffee works out to roughly twice the caffeine (since I go to bed a little later) :-)
- icouldntresist 3y agoI've actually been cutting out caffeine after listening to Michael Pollan talk about drugs and society on NPR. Turns out the half life is typically long enough that using caffeine every day long term will lead to cognitive decline because of sleep deprivation. It's good for an occasional boost, but you're really burning the candle at both ends.
- sschueller 3y agoYes, this calculator doesn't show how you end up a week later when your base level isn't zero. Taking a 2 day break from coffee can help a lot.
- SirMaster 3y agoYeah, I have no caffeine on weekends and that just seemed like a good idea to me without any evidence.
- cainxinth 3y agoI'm off caffeine after many years of daily consumption. Took a few weeks, but my energy level is now about the same as it was before I quit and I no longer feel tired without it. I do quite miss the taste and ritual of tea and coffee, though.
- seeknotfind 3y agoI stopped caffeine for 2 years and never felt the same. Happy for you.
- _aavaa_ 3y agoThis one? https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/821402773/michael-pollan-on-the-drug-we-use-every-day-caffeine https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/821402773/michael-pollan-on-t...
- icouldntresist 3y agoThat looks like it, but I heard it in 2022 or 2023, might have been a re-run. I can't listen to it right now, but I remember in the program he was talking about publishing some of his books describing his experiences with illegal substances and he had his publisher agree to pay all potential legal costs on top of paying his regular salary to his wife in case of incarceration.
- tulio_ribeiro 3y agoA lot of people don’t realize that caffeine is not the only substance that affects our body when we drink coffee. There is also paraxanthine, which is a metabolite of caffeine that has a similar half-life and similar effects. Paraxanthine can increase lipolysis, which means it breaks down fat and releases fatty acids into the bloodstream. It can also enhance alertness, mood, and cognitive performance. So, even when the caffeine levels in your blood start to drop, the paraxanthine levels are still high and keep you stimulated. That’s why the effects of coffee can last much longer than you think.
- netfortius 3y agoHow does this apply to decaf (which is still a non zero amont of coffee, but certainly reduced to actual product)?
- Projectiboga 3y agoI wonder what different effects tea has? I saw a study once that the boost you feel from coffee is only getting you to where you'd be if you never drank it. It's an illusory stimulation where you're just erasing withdrawal symptoms.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- didgeoridoo 3y agoAlso useful in case you have a pile of polonium-207 lying around.
- orangea 3y ago> "Keep in mind that after the amount becomes very small, it is likely that the body will dispose of it all at once rather than halving the amount forever." I don't think that's how it works...
- FounderBurr 3y agoActual stimulation is much more limited than the half life of the substance would suggest, as it is with most other stimulant drugs. Even if much of the substance remains unchanged by the liver the stimulation effect is front loaded. After a short time, typically 2-3 hours, physiological stimulation decreases rapidly unless even more stimulant is added.