Got told my overnight shift coffee ritual was making me more tired

A new manager watched me chug three cups of black coffee between midnight and 4am, then said I was wrecking my sleep cycle. Switched to one cup at 1am and water the rest of the shift, and I actually feel less zombie-like by 6am. Has anyone else gotten weird advice about caffeine timing that ended up working?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah4151d agoMost Upvoted

The real hidden killer is the temperature of your coffee, not just the amount. Hot coffee hits your system faster and burns off quicker, while room temp or cold brew releases caffeine way more evenly across the night. I switched to sipping a thermos of cold brew over 4 hours instead of gulping hot cups, and my 5am crash completely vanished. Try it for a week and see if the manager's advice was actually half right.

nora1841d ago

Oh man, that manager might have saved you from my personal coffee-induced meltdown phase. I used to do the same thing, chugging espresso shots at 3am thinking I was invincible, then crashing so hard by 5am I'd fall asleep standing up at the copy machine. Switching to a single cup and pacing it out actually helped, like my body stopped screaming at me for being a complete idiot with caffeine. Only downside is now I have to pee like four times during my shift, so it's a trade-off. But hey, at least I'm not hallucinating by sunrise anymore.