If you cut caffeine, how long would you last at your job?

I'm pretty sure that caffeine doesn't increase most people's productivity.

Any mental performance ascribed to caffeine in studies is always due to removing withdrawal symptoms. It doesn't increase them past their baseline.

In addition, caffeine works by stressing the body, thus reducing creative problem solving capabilities.

So, really if you quit caffeine, your performance might suffer for a few days, then it'd be back up to 100% or even higher.

I don't use caffeine (though I love coffee, it does not love me) I do use smallish dose Adderall XR for my ADHD, but even then I reduce/stop it when I need to be creative (architecture/design of complicated systems). For me, Adderall is great for slamming out repetitive tasks, it reduces my capacity for lateral thinking.

I usually break from coffee when going on vacation, so coming back to work afterwards and not having coffee isn't so much of a problem.

The thing though is... I _like_ coffee. The caffeine is maybe 20% of the experience for me. I enjoy the routine I have with coffee: Weigh the beans, run them through the grinder, prep my drip filter, carefully pour the hot water in, listen to the drips while taking in the wonderful aroma... and then finally, when I take that first sip of the morning, feeling the warmth of the drink in my chest.

Everything in that process is soothing for me, and serves as mental preparation for the day to come. It's the marker for the start of my workday, separating work from home. It's the mental replacement for the commute I no longer have.

I don't _need_ those things, and I could totally do my job without any of them, but I'd be losing the happiness I get from the experience.

I think it's important to note for those reading this thread. You do not have to quit caffeine/coffee. These comments read like you must be in some crazy camp if you havent quit coffee yet like it's some sort of cult.

Personally, I’d miss it, as I really enjoy coffee, but I wouldn’t foresee any impact to my ability to work.

If you really feel that caffeine is sustaining your existence, time to reset. Start cutting down by substituting tea, do some sort of ritual or physical activity after work to establish a boundary and get more sleep. Before bed, turn off the TV and do something without a computer. Read, have sex, do a puzzle, whatever.

If I quit drinking coffee it would take two weeks for the worst of the withdrawl to end, then I'd get most of my productivity back.

I just finished a whole month with no caffeine. I observe Ramadan, and so no food or drink during the day, and no point to take caffeine after sunset.

The first 1-2 days were hard, I had a headache and couldn't focus. After that, the body adapts. I have less control over my level of alertness. So if I don't get a good night's sleep, I'll probably need a mid-day nap. Luckily, my job is flexible enough to allow this (I'd say it happened once a week or so).

I've never been on any drug outside of sickness, but what I've always found made a COLOSSAL difference is a 15 minute afternoon nap. Turns the second half of the day from a slogfest to actually productive. Wish I could have done that in school.

I completely cut caffeine a few years ago. I was groggy and tired for about a week before I was entirely back to normal. Now I only use it to counter the occasional sleepless night, and not as an every-day thing. I continue to do my job just fine.

It's easy to make too much of coffee "addiction", like it becomes part of people's personalities (a very modern stupidity that substitutes for character IMHO) i.e. ZOMG I NEED COFFEE TO LIVE. Nobody needs that.

It isn't like going cold turkey on heroin or anything like that.

I'd probably switch my workout time to early in the morning instead of getting a cup of coffee and browsing the internet before starting my work day. I find drinking a cup of coffee and browsing the internet for 15 minutes in the morning has taken the place of my morning commute since the pandemic started, I'm sure I could find an alternative routine to get ready for the day. Once I had to start paying for my own coffee while working from home I went from 60 ounces a day down to 30. Maybe this helped me get better sleep or maybe I'm just less stressed two years into the pandemic, I'll probably never know unless I double my coffee consumption to find out which is not worth it.

As an experiment, around 6 months ago I cut out caffeine, down from a solid 40-60oz of coffee a day, and fairly strong at that. In the first week to 10 days I had some headaches, and then was pretty much back to normal. Still drink coffee, just switched to decaf. Honestly, I can't tell the difference.

One great side effect is that on occasion we will have coffee in the evening, which we never used to do.

I had hoped that I'd start sleeping better, between coffee and establishing a better bedtime routine. Dropping caffeine did very little to help, getting better bedtime routines and not drinking much fluids after 5pm (cutting down bathroom trips in the night) helped the most.

I've cut caffeine about once a year, usually after having a week or two of bad heartburn, and I cut just about everything that could trigger it for as long as I can manage it.

I tend to last about 2-3 weeks before going back to caffeine, and my brain is usually foggy for most of that. Less near the end, but my brain still seems to be less sharp the whole time. I do usually drink less caffeine when I start again, though, and gradually build back up again.

My productivity has never gone down enough from not drinking coffee that it's been an issue at work, and I don't think it ever would.

The hedonic treadmill is at work here. I recently cut caffeine entirely, and while the initial few weeks were awful, I don't feel now that I'm at any significant disadvantage with regards to where I started.

I also worked for a company where energy drinks and coffee became part of my diet, then left of my own volition. Then I left, and they're still doing just fine in spite of none of my team hitting caffeine anywhere near as heavily, so I assume the feeling that I'd get fired or somehow disciplined is/was all in my head.

Once I'm past the withdrawal phase, I do just as well as I did with caffeine. Possibly better because I don't have to manually manage chemicals in my body anymore. Caffeine lows tend to be quite harsh on my productivity.

Some of my most productive periods were when I completely eschewed caffeine for months at a time. That is when the work itself is motivating enough though - then I'll pull 14 hour days with no problem. Enjoying a good cup of coffee helps me cope with less interesting work...

Do that many coders need Coffee/drugs to actually do the job? I like a Orange Chocolate Latte or some espresso as much as the next guy/girl, but I've never found either actually keeps me awake let alone keeps me going to code. I drink it for the taste, especially the Orange Chocolate lattes.

Also, with or without the latte/espresso, and definitely with no drugs ever, I can routinely pull all-nighters and even the occasional 48-hour stretch when I let a deadline get past me and need to catch up before a launch.

I'm 43 and haven't worked out regularly in years and eat horribly, but damn can I pull an all-nighter when I need to. Problem now is my bounce-back is a week as opposed to a day like when I was younger. Also, no matter the time of day, whether I slept 8 hours or 0, the moment I lay my head down vertically I am out like a light.

I used to not drink caffeine at all, and I was always perplexed by this belief coworkers seemed to have that you simply can't work without caffeine. It's only because your body is used to it and your mind thinks you can't work without caffeine. "How can you do it?" they would ask.

Treat it like a drug. When I do actually have an exceptional need to stay awake and focused late at night, yeah an energy drink can help me keep my eyes on the road for hours without fading or feeling bored. But then if I drink them every day because I like them I do start feeling dependent. Just step yourself down, or go cold-turkey when you have a few days of down time. You can reset yourself fairly quickly.

Same goes for athletic performance. I used to do jiu jitsu regularly and everyone would drink energy drinks right before training or competing. I tried it and it seemed that I could have bursts of exceptional energy but I would drain my batteries a lot faster. Just help your body learn to bring itself up and down on its own. It can do it.

I think its status as a productivity booster has been massively overblown. Yeah, one might be slightly more awake at 2 AM when an epiphany occurs, but its not the magic elixir that will always bring one about.

I don't get addicted to things generally, so I don't think my work would even notice. Using other drugs to gain that edge has sharply diminishing returns.

One 300ml coffee in the AM while reading news and handling first emails. I prefer a different chemical for my "in the zone" type coding projects.

I don't think it would have any material effect on my job; neither is required. One just makes the coding process a little more fun -- and keeps my brain from wandering off to the next shiny thing.

I'd probably do my job better; my primary work is as a parent, which benefits from lateral thinking. When I'm soaked in caffeine I'm more anxious and find it harder to resonate with my child during imaginitive play. I'm also less patient when high on caffeine. I still really like coffee and go in waves of more or less, with occasional extended breaks (on the order of weeks; my spouse drinks coffee, and so far I eventually give in). I mostly drink instant coffee now, because it contains less caffeine and I can have just the one cup rather than a whole carafe (it's hard to make less than the full press; poor excuse, I'm just acknowledging the difficulty and a workaround). I also like the taste. In my adventure of cutting (relative) luxuries, coffee is one of the last to go.

I would suggest quitting coffee if you are curious about that. Do it on a Thursday and you will probably be fine by Monday. Try it for a couple weeks and evaluate, most likely your productivity will be unaffected. Your boss won't notice.

On the more general question of whether stimulants are necessary for work... my experience is this idea is bizarre and out of line with professional programmers more than a few years out of university (where desperate students take adderall to cram for exams, and thus come into the workforce with that somewhat normalized).

Once a few years out you will have so many employment options that the idea of risking your heart health for a programming job will seem asinine... like biking to school without a helmet.

> If you stopped taking caffeine (or adderall or whatever other drug that enhances focus).

I'd just like to point out that it's QUITE a large step up from an innocent cup of coffee to pharmaceutical grade amphetamines. Also the side effects of stopping one vs the other can be vastly different, and one is often taken as a medical necessity while the other is just a luxury.

Personally if I stopped caffeine for a while, I know from experience I'd be headache-y and irritable for a day or two then I'd feel fine pretty soon after. Definitely wouldn't impact my job unless I chose to do it during workdays, but even then I don't feel like it would be more than what I could solve with some Panadol and water.

I don't really do caffeine, or any other drug for focus. I'm a poor performer. The deficit for me is not necessarily that I can't pay attention, but rather I don't want to pay attention. I don't see any real reward for working harder and the company has screwed me over a few times in the past. There are a lot of family issues I have to deal with at home. So in some cases I'm being distracted by other responsibilities. In others I'm looking for a distraction so I don't realize just how much I hate my job. Even when I am actually working on work stuff, the bureaucracy eats away at my drive to get stuff done.

Nah I would probably force myself to sleep earlier. Stimulants are a cope for bad discipline imho.

I like coffee a lot, but it does not have an effect on me. It actually puts me to sleep. My brother is the same so it may be genetic (but I did not do research on that).

I often drink coffee before going to bed, even strong ones. This always makes my parents and wife worried, despite the years.

I like the taste very much but if there is no available I am just sad and drink some water. For some time I was missing coffee at home and it took me some time to go shopping some, because lazyness and procrastination.

There are times I drink 6 or 8 espressos a day (without any special reaction), then days without coffee, then a few a day, etc. No withdrawal effects.

I actually have real life - if anecdotal - experience to answer this. I cut to decaf from a 3 large cups a day habit of black coffee over a year ago. My productivity has actually gone up. I am mainly attributing this to the reduction in anxiety and how it has allowed my mind to slow down and better focus. I find that I am better able to keep on tasks and manage my to do lists. I was a heavy coffee drinker under the same assumption that I could not function without it or would be slow, plus I love the taste. Turns out regular exercise and good sleep have far more impact on my productivity.

I stopped for about 6mos. I didn’t notice any significant effects, it didn’t improve my sleeping, I didn’t feel better or worse. Previously 4-6 cups a day, exclusively morning and afternoon. I also have a nice pro-sumer style espresso machine that also got a fair bit of use.

Once I started drinking coffee again, I immediately enjoyed being able to get a little more focused earlier in the morning. I still drink ~4 cups a day, but now it’s half-caf. Love coffee. However, it turns out that under some circumstances lots of caffeine can impact retinal health - no source for that, just a recommendation from an ophthalmologist.

I must be one of the few developers out there who doesn't drink coffee.

Caffeine affects individuals only a little. Its true effects are seen on the societal and global scale. Modern history was born in the coffee and teahouses of the cities across the Middle East.

I would be fine, but would WE?

This year I reduced my caff from avg 160mg/day(rockstar) to 50mg(caffeinated sparkling water) and also limit to 3days a week(tues-thur). I get the same effect from the reduced mg because of the reduction in frequency. This change is having a profound impact on my anxiety, irritation, and overall contentment. I am far less reactive and much more zenlike. Productivity has increased because I feel like I get a boost on the caff days, rather than feeding a dependency, and I structure my work accordingly.

Caffeine does very little for me, which is odd because I have a Monster Zero in the morning instead of coffee, mostly for the fun of it. If I forget or don't have access, I don't really notice. No withdrawl or anything most of the time. Even if I get caffeine withdrawal, things are back to normal in a day. I can't imagine how cutting out caffeine would lead to getting fired unless one had some really bad adrenal dysfunction (speaking as an armchair non-doctor).

Exercise > coffee for me, and I suspect the same is true for most other people.

I really enjoy coffee, but I know I can work just fine without it. However, I feel ill if I haven't done a form of exercise by the evening.

It didn't use to be like this before I started cycling daily many years ago. I'm torn on whether at some point in my life I became dependant on exercise, or whether I used to always feel terrible and never realised.

Quit coffee a few times. And a heavy drinker since I was a teenager. Currently on a few months break. First I stopped for a few days, had a craving and ordered a coffee. The sweating and heart palpilations from that one made me not want to go back. I don't think it even was delicious.

But there is nothing magical about being on or off coffee. You might feel a bit more calm, and no forced bowel movements if you are off it though.

If I worked till I die and was a worm, then I would probably last slightly less long without caffeine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922918/

Otherwise, as others wrote, it wouldn’t make a significant difference except for the week or so of withdrawal symptoms.

No significant effect probably except for some craving; during the start of the pandemic, with all of the changes going-on, mind was no longer bored and so didn't really seek or drink any caffeine for months.

I notice the caffeine craving is stronger when bored at the job, otherwise, it can be ignored. Now in the latter years of the pandemic, boredom is setting-in and so caffeine craving has increased.

I think for a good percentage of people, it's the routine of going to get coffee to break up the day that's more important than coffee itself. It was for me, I drank a cup or two every weekday, until I started WFH. I now drink a couple times a month at most with breakfast sometimes. No side effects, no cravings, no change in mental side (for good or bad)

I think the secret to caffeine is tolerance breaks. If you tbreak on the weekends and increasingly up the dose during the weekdays

I expect this is a placebo effect. It's completely possible to feel more productive without actually being more productive. Looking back on the (admittedly very few) caffeine-fuelled stints I've had they were just more chaotic and overall less productive than drinking tiny amounts of coffee, or no coffee at all.

A place with high turnover allows you to coast for years... so I'd probably just look a little lower energy than normal.

I'm OK without Mr. Coffee, I treat it more or less like a drink instead of something essential.

But still, losing it would be miserable. So I chose to drink as much decaffeinated as possible. Basically I reserve the ordinary one for days when I need to work on some difficult projects or I need to present something in a meeting (rare these days).

Wouldn’t change anything. Caffeine is just an addiction like any other. It only provides a boost if you aren’t addicted. Otherwise it just brings you to baseline.

I’ve quit for long periods and restarted many times. It’s only slightly difficult for a few days.

But if you gradually decrease is over a week then you won’t even notice.

Most software engineering occurs on self-imposed deadlines and goals. Often, certain members of the team push themselves much harder then the rest of the group. However the vast majority of engineers work relatively light hours. It's unlikely the majority of the team is on performance enhancing drugs.

I stopped caffeine for a while (~2 months) to test this out. It didn't really have a huge effect. The first week was hard, but I adjusted pretty quickly. Not really as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Now I drink coffee again because it tastes great and it's useful pre-workout.

My current usage is everyday, 4 cups of medium single spoon for 2 cups, and then a NOS can. I don't eat the entire day eg. 9-5 that keeps my energy up. Once I eat usually I get lethargic.

So yeah unless I've got money in the bank/don't have a job, I will be using it.

I like the ritual, I like having something hot, but I'm pretty sure I'd be the same if I just had hot water instead.

I don't really buy into the meme that people specifically need coffee to actually function. It's the same as kids pretending to act hyper with red cordial.

I (mostly) quit soda last fall and I don't like coffee. I still use caffeine occasionally when I've slept poorly and need to wake up.

The biggest effect on my productivity is that I need fewer bathroom breaks. No danger of getting fired (except possibly from excessive HN browsing).

providing you replace it with sleep and exercise no issue at all.

really the first reason you use it as a crutch at work is to help supplement a lack of the above.

then the addiction and chemical resistance kicks in and now you're dependent and in need of increasing amounts.

What? Withdrawal would be over in a week in the worst-case scenario. Last at my job? What?

I cutted caffeine in April 2020 for almost 1.5 years. It took me a while to get over the habit and the headaches but overall it was not an issue to me. I didn’t have peaks and crashes during the day, it was more uniform days form me.

I'd be fine in steady state generally, but the "shift work" issue would make travel a pain (I often get 0200-0500 flights, etc.). I'd be wrecked for a week due to withdrawal headaches, though.

Having cut caffeine quite often, it usually takes me a week or two to bounce back to a base line. And then I am back to my usual productivity, given that I am sleeping 8 hours, eating well and am exercising.

I’d be just fine. I usually skip coffee on weekends. I do really enjoy coffee and don't see a giant productivity boost. The morning ritual and taste (no cream/sugar) is what does it for me.

I've never regularly taken caffeine or other stimulants, and my work is fine. I imagine that stopping would be more about an adjustment period than a significant productivity decrease.

I'm on very light dosages now - I drink decaf, with a sprinkle of low strength powdered coffee if I really want to stay awake. So I don't think it'd take me long.

I made it the last 15 years of my career without caffeine. My focus and productivity actually improved without caffeine.

Indefinitely. I don't drink caffeine really nor take anything to increase focus. When I do drink caffeine, I don't feel anything.

It doesn't do much for me either way. I don't see a clear difference between my productivity when I use it and when I don't.

I do not casually drink coffee or anything like that, so would stay productive as long as I stay within 35-40 working hours per week.

I stopped drinking coffee for good.

Now I only drink it for evil.

Without my medication? I think that would be problematic, yes.

But caffeine, I already avoid it because I think it redundant with my medication.

I've never used any of the above in my entire life. I've never been let go from a job due to poor performance.

For the last twenty or so years, I've given it up for a month each year. I don't see much difference

I don't drink caffeine except in emergencies, so I guess it wouldn't affect me much at all.

I would probably do better, since I would be forced to actually get the sleep that my brain needs

I gave up coffee years ago. I'm still at my current gig nearly 10 years later.

I get the correct amount of sleep. I don't need it. I just drink water.