Does coffee helps you become more creative?

[Alex bAlex]

I have heard an interesting point of view about the booming of scientific innovation during the 18,and 19 centuries (I might be a bit off), and that was that the thing that helped genius minds was switching from booze to coffee and tea. 

I played a bit with coffee in the last period but the only noticeable effect was getting depressed when I was not consuming coffee. And my mind was constantly craving coffee making me loosing time and money. 

What's your pov? Does coffee work for you and your creativity? 

[rNOW]

I work in a creative field. Coffee is useful to meet deadlines, in keeping myself forcefully awake beyond normal human waking capability. I've been awake 6 days straight once- do not recommend. Coffee also makes me highly anxious and jittery. So I have tea instead. Tea is calming and soothing. My best ideas come when I'm relaxed not when I'm hunting for ideas or trying to meet deadlines. So then I decided to keep coffee for rare occasions. 

When I think of people who are extremely creative, I can only think of kids or adults who have learned to remain kids. Ever seen a kid need coffee to be creative? 

I think the most important thing for creativity is to lose your mind (mental chatter, judgments of right and wrong, good and bad, etc.)

[Alex bAlex]

@rNOW Gosh- even on speed and X I couldn't stay awake more than 3 days.

Are you talking about black tea (which contains caffeine) or fruit tea?

@Shiva I got the headache the first 3-4 days after ditching the coffee. It takes about 5 to 7 days for me to get off its "witch spell" ?

Edited November 11, 2019 by Alex bAlex

[Michael569]

It certainly does but the effect is short lived and taxes your body in long term. You either become addicted or avoid it. It is hard to stay away from it once you have tasted its delicate taste and savoured the stimulating effects. It is equally difficult to just have it "every once in a while", the drive to caffeinate oneself is just too powerful...its like another level of horny 

[Arcangelo]

Yes.

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

From what I've researched, coffee causes more linear, rational left-brained (task-oriented) thinking. As opposed to green tea promoting more circular, creative, right-brained thinking. 

[Aeris]

I m almost sure that coffee is worst than weed on the overall health, but no one will back up this.

Smoking / & smoking with tobacco, probably lower this rate.

I m only talking like if we were injecting thc/cbd.

the effect on health is probably "better" especially for creative purpose.

maybe a reason why Charles Baudelaire writted book about cannabis.

[Waves]

I've started drinking coffee more and more mainly because it gives me an energy boost for studying and working out, but also because I started to enjoy sitting down with a nice cup, taking in the aroma, appreciating the moment of stillness and presence, and maybe writing some thoughts in my journal.

What I've noticed is that it makes me more focused, curious, and engaged with life. And that's a dangerous association right there. I have to be careful not to link not being caffeinated with being unable to function properly. I try to avoid drinking coffee on one or two days per week, so that it doesn't become a daily routine, and it serves me as a "proof" that I'm still able to do what I need to do without external aids. 

I guess I could substitute it for something less aggressive, but for now it's just too convenient and pleasant. I must be hooked already 

 

[Proactive]

coffee makes me really happy, like really happy. Sometimes to the point where I just start laughing randomly .

The effects of coffee depend on what state i'm in at the time. If I depend on it to do hmk for example, it won't do much.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Proactive

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

1 hour ago, Aeris said:

I m almost sure that coffee is worst than weed on the overall health, but no one will back up this.

Smoking / & smoking with tobacco, probably lower this rate.

I m only talking like if we were injecting thc/cbd.

the effect on health is probably "better" especially for creative purpose.

maybe a reason why Charles Baudelaire writted book about cannabis.

Be really careful demonizing coffee. The coffee itself is not the problem. Heavy metals and other toxins in non organic coffee can be detrimental to your health. Coffee itself is very cleansing for your liver, and has potent antioxidant qualities. The caffeine in the coffee used correctly (controlling dosage and preventing tolerance/cycling on and off) will not be detrimental to your health. You can be extremely healthy and be a coffee drinker. Its just nonsense how much false information is out there. Turning it into an addiction where you need more and more of it to achieve the same affect is where things go downhill.

There have been studies where they looked at tobacco smokers versus tobacco smokers who were also coffee drinkers, the ones who drank coffee had mitigated negative health effects from the tobacco. It helped fight the carcinogens. 

Coffee has also been shown to speed up cellular autophagy, or the cleaning up of waste products in your body, when combined with a 12-16 hour fast protocol, which improves health and longevity. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by TrynaBeTurquoise

[rNOW]

@Alex bAlex Yeah Litres of black coffee plus RedBull plus caffeine tablets, to keep myself awake  

I drink all kinds of tea, even find that some with caffeine have a calming effect, it just depends on the blend. Mainly I like mild flavours, even if black/green tea. I think tea has a lot less caffeine compared to coffee, so it helps. But I bet it is as easy to get addicted to tea as to coffee, I used to be earlier. 

[Michael569]

12 hours ago, TrynaBeTurquoise said:

Coffee has also been shown to speed up cellular autophagy, or the cleaning up of waste products in your body, when combined with a 12-16 hour fast protocol, which improves health and longevity. 

interesting...didn't know about this. 

[DrewNows]

Supposedly coffee weakens the adrenals and liver over time. Weak adrenals promotes dependency on caffeine for mood enhancement 

[allislove]

If you love coffee it's more good than bad, but only if you are conscious enough to limit the usage. 

[outlandish]

18 hours ago, TrynaBeTurquoise said:

Be really careful demonizing coffee. The coffee itself is not the problem. Heavy metals and other toxins in non organic coffee can be detrimental to your health. Coffee itself is very cleansing for your liver, and has potent antioxidant qualities. The caffeine in the coffee used correctly (controlling dosage and preventing tolerance/cycling on and off) will not be detrimental to your health. You can be extremely healthy and be a coffee drinker. Its just nonsense how much false information is out there. Turning it into an addiction where you need more and more of it to achieve the same affect is where things go downhill.

Yes exactly. 

Both coffee and tea drinkers live longer than non-drinkers. It's an un-dangerous and healthful habit, unless you take it to extremes.

Enjoy your cup, make sure it's coming from an ethical source so that it's not causing suffering in this world.

Edit: oh and re: creativity - caffeine doesn't help me to be more creative per se, but it does allow me to be more productive and focused, so you might say it boosts creativity indirectly just in that it creates more space for creativity to occur.

Edited November 12, 2019 by outlandish

[Ry4n]

It does for me!

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

@Michael569 Just plain black coffee, no added calories, speeds up the metabolism and increases autophagy. Especially beneficial if you are doing a fasted workout, then would be ideal to get your first calories of the day right after the workout. 

@outlandish Agreed, and the individuals genetics are also a factor here. Around half the population, genetically, are fast caffeine metabolizers and half are slow caffeine metabolizers. If you are a faster metabolizer you can get away with drinking more without having negative effects. You would have to take a genetic test to know for sure but you can do experimentation to see what the best time of day is to drink and how much you can drink that wont effect your sleep quality that night. Personally I have found that the earlier in the morning the better, and I make noon my cut off time, so its out of my system when im winding down that evening. 

[outlandish]

@TrynaBeTurquoise I make noon my cutoff time too, I guess that probably makes me a slow caffeine metabolizer? I didn't realize there were two distinct genetic buckets with this.

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

8 minutes ago, outlandish said:

@TrynaBeTurquoise I make noon my cutoff time too, I guess that probably makes me a slow caffeine metabolizer? I didn't realize there were two distinct genetic buckets with this.

Maybe you are but maybe not. What I read is that the slow metabolizers usually dont enjoy coffee as much as the fast ones. Maybe this a coincidence, who knows. I think in general though noon is a good cut off time if you are on a normal sleep/wake schedule. 

[Alex bAlex]

So drinking coffee is sort of no fap challenge. You can fap but in moderation ?

In regards of cut off time,I know that it should be at least 8 to 10 hours before you go to sleep. So probably a cup in the morning is the best. 

Thanks

Edited November 13, 2019 by Alex bAlex