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Comment by twodave | Hacker News Reader

In my experience coffee does nothing to my ability to sleep, just allows me to focus better. I realize I’m in the minority but I literally just drank a cup and am headed to bed.

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Tolereance is one thing, but sensitivity is another factor to consider, I think. Tollerence is a pure function of the frequency you put a substance in your body. I'm sure my caffeine tolerance is off the charts, as I drink 4-6 cups of coffee (no sugar, sometimes cream if its crap coffee) a day. But my sensitivity is also very low. My whole life, even before coffee as a kid drinking soda, I have never felt stimulated from caffeine. I sometimes wonder if I'm immune, haha. I could literally drink a cup before bed and be fine. So why drink it you ask? Because I think it's delicious, and I belive there to be myriad other health benefits to coffee.

>I sometimes wonder if I'm immune

Why not find out? It would be awful if you went your whole life consuming something that didn't do what you that it was.

They already explained that they're in it for the taste.

I'm about the same. I frequently drink 4-5 double shots of espresso when my little one sleeps at around 11, and I head to bed an hour or two later.

I wonder if there is some bloodwork or something that could prove/ disprove this hypothesis, haha. I don't care about the stimulation, I think coffee is legit healthy for you(as long as you don't add sugar). There is some evidence coming out suggesting the complex blend of chemicals in coffee might hold many beneficial compounds.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15779133

Yup, same for me and I’ve noted my dad as well. We can happily drink a cup of coffee before going to bed.

I don’t really notice being more alert with caffeine, and drinking coffee seems to just be out of habit mostly.

If I drink too much I notice my heart beating a bit faster and a slight anxiety feeling.

I generally drink two cups a day

This might sound insensitive but it's possible you're not aware of the effect. For a while I also thought I was not stimulated by caffeine, but I realized I just didn't know how to recognize the effect.

Edit: I would add that being high on caffeine doesn't necessarily mean I have trouble falling asleep.

So how do you recognize it?

I don't know by which method to begin to recognize it. In myself I started to notice slightly more fragmented thought patterns; proneness to having more new thoughts interrupting the current line for thought.

Yeah it's possible, but I'm sure it is having some type of an effect. I don't doubt stuff is happening at the cellular/ chemical level. It is just so difficult for me to even perceive. It could be changing my conciousness more dramatically than I realize, but as far as the purely physical effects many people report (becoming jittery/ restless, trouble sleeping) they are just not there for me.

Do you not feel "more awake" with the ability to focus better, etc.? I find that as long as I'm focused on a task the effects of caffeine are negligible; it helps me stay focused. As soon as I go interacting with people, the effects become really visible and a hindrance. My mind is a bit too fast and fragmented for these slow and broad interactions.

Do you have ADHD? I do, and I can drink caffeine and go straight to bed, and it does help a little bit with focus (Adderall helps a lot more, of course).

Stimulants tend to calm the ADHD mind, and can stop racing thoughts that make it harder to sleep.

Never been diagnosed, but I definitely suspect it. I show a lot of the classic signs, just not quite as severe as people I’ve known that were diagnosed. I started drinking coffee when I was a kid, though, so I tend to joke that I have been inadvertently treating myself for ADHD all this time :)

You should go get screened! I just finally got diagnosed at age 38, and it's shed so much insight into my life. Plus, medication can really make a real difference.

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