Can Caffeine Have A Reverse Effect

Luvs Lattes

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Jul 6, 2008
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As far back as I can remember, I would fall asleep after drinking two cups of store brand coffees, then I discovered Arabica coffees. I can drink more but after a fourth cup I begin to feel sleepy.

Can caffeine have a reverse effect on a person?
 
Jan 18, 2008
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Luvs Lattes said:
Can caffeine have a reverse effect on a person?

Funny, I recently posted a similar experience regarding instant coffees. I haven't figured it out yet, but after resorting to instants for a week during the day, I became unusually tired by around noon.

Could be a metabolism thing... how your system reacts to altering your coffees... arabica, instants or what have you.

When I went back to my usual coffee, I felt reenergized again.

Caffeine should provide an immediate lift. If you drink throughout the day, like I do, then you should be able to maintain that lift. When it's time to sleep, I sleep like a rock.

My woman on the other hand, complains that drinking coffee late in the day keeps her awake all night, tossing and turning. Depends on the person....
 

Luvs Lattes

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I do not drink pop or any other beverage with caffeine, and have two cups a day, most often in the morning and sometimes just before bed and I sleep really well.

When I'm at friends places and they make coffee (store brands such as Folgers, MJB, Edwards, Maxwell House) I really feel like having a nap after one cup and do fall asleep if I have two.
 

Coffeeexpert

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Caffeine is a drug and drugs effect people differently. That being said, there is evidence that in people with ADHD, caffeine can have the opposite effect and cause sleep. Many drugs given to people with ADHD, in order to calm them, are stimulants. I found a post on yahoo answers that addresses this topic-
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 417AAcka6Y

Also how old are you and body size?? I have heard that stimulants have a reverse effect on you if you're a smaller person, that is, younger, or petite.

Psychologically speaking, you may have coffee in your mind as a part of a relaxing ritual, similar to that sleepy feeling you get from hot chocolate or warm milk...in which case it will not be the picker upper it's supposed to be.

If you have the afternoon crash like a lot of people do, and this is when you get sleepy and when you drink coffee, it may be a coincidence. Most people crash about halfway between lunch and dinner (remember the Snickers commercials?) and it is a response to blood sugar and the fatigue is resolved by FOOD, not stimulants or sleep or fresh air. Even if you use a caffeine product, its effects may not be enough to keep you from being tired.

Related, maybe the setting you are in with your coffee is more powerful than the physical response to it. You said yourself that coffee is part of your bedtime routine. This will definitely keep you in the habit of falling asleep from coffee. It is a conditioned response. Did you always drink coffee before bed and then you noticed? Or did you know this about yourself, and then use the phenomenon on nights you can't sleep? There would be a difference...in the latter case, you are creating a stimulus-response pattern, just like Pavlov's dogs who salivated from hearing a bell, a previous pattern associated with food and bell together. If you drink coffee every night and then the next thing you do is sleep, you will want to sleep after coffee any time of day, again, a learned response.
 

CJA

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Sep 20, 2011
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To add my two cents -- strangely, coffee does nothing to keep me awake...I've often drank my 2 cups in the morning, then gone right back to bed with no problem. I think it's just lost its effect on me after all this time drinking it.
 
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