Caffeine

How much caffiene do you consume on a weekday?

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destructosam

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Hello USMA cadets, I saw a pubmed research paper that said the average cadet got about 5.5 hours of sleep on a weekday. How is that possible?! What are some ways you handle that and stay alive?
 
My son went to USNA. 5.5 average means some got less and some got more.

My son got in the fours at USNA. I assume some naps during class or at library.

He didn’t drink coffee before he went. He drinks it black and often now.

Your body adjusts.
 
Five and a half hours would not be far off of my normal sleep pattern for most of my life. For the most part I've pitched the alarm clock for a few years now and it is very very rare that I manage to sleep more than six and a half hours. Five and a half was probably pretty normal for me at USNA and when I was aboard ship throughout my career, I generally got much less sleep than that due to watches and duties. During my tour as a ships Navigator, while underway I never got more than five hours total in a night and more specifically three hours at one time. Throughout my time at USNA and in the fleet, I was not a coffee drinker at all. For me, coffee started on my first business trip in industry when I was driving a group to a meeting and my boss handed me a cupful.
 
I was just talking to my son about sleep. Right now it is in very short supply. Averages 5hrs, but has dipped lower. There were a few nights he said he went to bed at 3am, and was up at 5am. I asked him if this was self induced (wasting time doing things other than school work or mandatory movements) and he said no, there has been a lot more in the way of mandatory formations, and heavy workload. I asked if this was just a Thayer week, he laughed and said "Thayer week is just what they tell Plebes to give them hope that it will get better." However, averages will change, and he does find bits of time to nap, and says hes getting really good at feeling rested after a 15-30min power nap.
 
vipercrew said:
I was just talking to my son about sleep. Right now it is in very short supply. Averages 5hrs, but has dipped lower. There were a few nights he said he went to bed at 3am, and was up at 5am. I asked him if this was self induced (wasting time doing things other than school work or mandatory movements) and he said no, there has been a lot more in the way of mandatory formations, and heavy workload. I asked if this was just a Thayer week, he laughed and said "Thayer week is just what they tell Plebes to give them hope that it will get better." However, averages will change, and he does find bits of time to nap, and says hes getting really good at feeling rested after a 15-30min power nap.
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Elon musk has said he gets 6 hrs, and the guy is practically superhuman. Anything lower and you are sacrificing efficiency and cognitive performance. Plain and simple.
 
Mr2020 said:
Elon musk has said he gets 6 hrs, and the guy is practically superhuman. Anything lower and you are sacrificing efficiency and cognitive performance. Plain and simple.
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Really? I've done pretty well for myself throughout 2 careers and into my third and my body won't sleep much past 6 hours no matter how hard I try. Did months and years of 5.5 hrs without cognitive or performance issues.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Really? I've done pretty well for myself throughout 2 careers and into my third and my body won't sleep much past 6 hours no matter how hard I try. Did months and years of 5.5 hrs without cognitive or performance issues.
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never said anything about "issues" but efficiency and optimization. Not being able to sleep is a health problem. I can't either and get compensated for it by the VA.
 
It’s weird and I am not looking to get bullied …

I used to drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning.for 36 years. A few months ago I lost my desire for it. I don’t drink coffee anymore.

Replaced it with half a glass of unsweetened cranberry juice.
 
A1Janitor said:
It’s weird and I am not looking to get bullied …

I used to drink two cups of coffee a day in the morning.for 36 years. A few months ago I lost my desire for it. I don’t drink coffee anymore.

Replaced it with half a glass of unsweetened cranberry juice.
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…now GET OFF MY LAWN 💪😂
 
I volunteer to be the regression analysis outlying data dot on the graph.

I have never drunk coffee. I can’t take the smell/aroma. Oddly, I didn’t figure it out until just about ten years ago. When I was maybe 3, I woke up around 5 AM and smelled something. I wandered out to the kitchen and saw that the counter was on fire, as were the solid pine cabinets, and the curtains over the sink were flaming. Terrible burned coffee and other burned smells. I ran screaming to my parents to wake them up and don’t remember much except being put back to bed at a neighbor’s house. Last thing my dad did every night was set up an automatic timer to start the percolator coffee pot the next morning. Something electric started the fire. I finally realized I associated the smell of coffee with that incident. Funny how the brain records something indelibly and makes a linkage to a trauma. Fire Department got there quick, and mom got an all-new kitchen. It had to be demo’ed and rebuilt from the studs up.

I get my tiny share of caffeine from dark chocolate, white tea and the occasional treat of a fountain Dr. Pepper.
 
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Current cadet. Over the last two weeks I averaged going to bed at 1 AM. Got up at ~6AM every day except sunday. Manage it with caffeine; some people use nicotine. Napping can help, when there's time. It makes learning things way harder though. I feel like I'm operating at 50% cognitive potential some days.
 
BravoTL said:
Current cadet. Over the last two weeks I averaged going to bed at 1 AM. Got up at ~6AM every day except sunday. Manage it with caffeine; some people use nicotine. Napping can help, when there's time. It makes learning things way harder though. I feel like I'm operating at 50% cognitive potential some days.
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Dont give in to the Zynn!
 
Early on as a cadet I would down caffeine pills, sleep in Rob Aud between math and history, and overall made lots of unhealthy choices that left me feeling like crap most of the time.

Down the line I adapted, and even as an engineering major with a random minor, more activities outside of schoolwork than I could count, etc... I managed to prioritize rest and cut out caffeine almost completely. I found that actually getting six solid hours of sleep and forcing myself to go to optional meals created a positive feedback loop that made me more productive and attentive during the day, allowing me to sleep more at night.

Don't get me wrong, it still sucked. And there were still nights of 3am-4am problem sets. But if you can avoid the nicotine/caffeine one-two-punch, and actually take care of your body, it's a lot more doable. Sometimes it's easier said than done.
 
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