That means you adjusted back quickly, but it doesn't really answer the question. Which is: If you have coffee almost every day, does it still provide you an alertness boost?
> Which is: If you have coffee almost every day, does it still provide you an alertness boost?
I have been on and off coffee several times and my anecdote is that if you have coffee almost every day, it does provide you an alertness boost, but:
Your average alertness over the course of a day with coffee (when you're adjusted to it) and over a day without coffee (when you're adjusted to that) are about the same. The one with coffee just has more ups and downs. Without coffee it's more even. IMHO that evenness is a good thing.
I drink coffee everyday (somedays four or more espressos). I also stop drinking coffe for a few days at least twice every semester, just in case.
Even at peak coffee, more coffee still stimulates my mind and makes me infinitely more focused. The only times coffee hasn't worked is when I'm genuinely sleep deprived, although I typically get 6-8 hours of sleep.
I would not conclude an effect of caffeine ingestion. You may be getting the alertness boost from placebo effect, conditioned response or even just the fact of taking a break. I get an alertness boost from getting up to fill a glass of water, for example. I don't have to actually drink from the glass to get the effect.
I hesitate to contribute anecdotal evidence but my experience has been very similar. In college, I routinely took 200 mg caffeine pills and I would always stop cold turkey after exams, when I was usually hitting about 300 mg a day. Definitely felt the alertness almost every time I consumed more caffeine and, surprisingly, never had any withdrawal symptoms outside of drowsiness.
