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Comment by santa_boy | Hacker News Reader

Just inquisitive. How much is a high caffeine intake? What is a reasonable way to size my consumption?

I drink 3 cups of Black coffee every day. 2 after waking up and then 1 in the evening.

Black coffee has been perpetrated as a magic potion by the latest weight loss consultants. It adds to my feel good factor.

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Well, I don't know enough to answer all your questions with certitude, but I know that for me if I drank a cup of coffee in the evening I would almost certainly grind my teeth that night. I still drink coffee (and a lot more than you) in the mornings but never after 2pm.

I will also add that coffee dehydrates you, which can also be associated with muscle tension and anxiety. So maybe make sure you're drinking enough water (and electrolytes!) as well.

I feel ya on the feel good factor though. It would take some serious side effects for me to want to quit coffee.

> Black coffee has been perpetrated as a magic potion by the latest weight loss consultants. It adds to my feel good factor.

I mean, this is the exact reasoning that hooks people up on amphetamines.

This article suggests that internationally speaking government warnings begin at 200mg of caffeine a day, which you are almost certainly going over. I seriously suggest you do your own deeper research on the health effects of coffee as it is a bit of a mixed bag of health benefits and health risks.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/11/1772/htm

BTW, there's also another angle to consider about coffee: how well you sleep afterwards. I recommend the book ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker, it has plenty of info on why deep REM sleep is especially important. (Even though there's some criticism about the book, it still gives a lot of food for thought.)

I haven't seen definitive numbers on how long coffee works, but I'm pretty sure that it's more than the half-hour that Wikipedia claims, and Walker in particular says coffee in the afternoon does affect night's sleep. Personally for me, if I drink three cups in a day, or drink a cup or two for several days straight, then I can feel the effect on the following days—specifically in muscle tension and irritability.

I don't think 3 cups is problematic but I'd think twice about the evening one. It takes a while for your body to process the caffeine so you'd likely be falling asleep with elevated concentrations of caffeine in your blood.

"high" intake probably depends on your individual ability to metabolize caffeine, which is different per person. Some people can drink it right before bed, others can't sleep if they had more than 2 cups that day, etc.

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