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The Grand Caffeine Pill Experiment
May. 27th, 2014 12:27 amI'm a great believer in better living through chemistry* so I don't mind taking pills and potions to keep me functional.
For tooth-related reasons, I've basically gone low caffeine, which isn't a problem in terms of staying awake, but I use caffeine as a wit-sharpener, particularly while fencing.
Before, I used to use diet cola, but I know what that does to teeth. The other options are tea or coffee, but lots of fencing halls don't have those facilities or you need an urgent pick-me-up and don't have time to get a tea and let it cool.
That leaves the option of caffeine pills. I was a little wart because 3 people I know (2 rl and 1 on-line) have had really bad experiences with them, but at the same time, I also know that caffeine improves my performance including after nights with little to no sleep. The deciding factor was confirmation from on high that no amount of caffeine is enough to get you disqualified.
So I gave them a go, using Pro-Plus pills as recommended by the packaging.
Some observations:
1 - They give a nice steady dose. You don't end up jittery, not do you get the horrible caffeine crashes associated with coffee.
2 - I haven't found that it interferes with my post-competition sleep, but you're tuckered out anyway so I'm not sure that I count as a reasonable data point.
3 - Increased frequency of urination, but since that happens when I get nervous anyway, again, I'm not sure if that's a reasonable data point.
4 - You sweat buckets. Now I fence so I have a high sweat expectation; there is an ancient fencing proverb that goes "horses sweat, men perspire, ladies sweetly glow and fencers drip." This is the step beyond dripping.
Most importantly, all other things apart, it means I'm still alert going into the fifth, sixth and seventh hours of competition so I'll happily take the side effects.
*There are those who would say that since I don't take any illegal or illicit drugs I don't count but I'm a biochemist so I have a broad concept of chemistry :)
For tooth-related reasons, I've basically gone low caffeine, which isn't a problem in terms of staying awake, but I use caffeine as a wit-sharpener, particularly while fencing.
Before, I used to use diet cola, but I know what that does to teeth. The other options are tea or coffee, but lots of fencing halls don't have those facilities or you need an urgent pick-me-up and don't have time to get a tea and let it cool.
That leaves the option of caffeine pills. I was a little wart because 3 people I know (2 rl and 1 on-line) have had really bad experiences with them, but at the same time, I also know that caffeine improves my performance including after nights with little to no sleep. The deciding factor was confirmation from on high that no amount of caffeine is enough to get you disqualified.
So I gave them a go, using Pro-Plus pills as recommended by the packaging.
Some observations:
1 - They give a nice steady dose. You don't end up jittery, not do you get the horrible caffeine crashes associated with coffee.
2 - I haven't found that it interferes with my post-competition sleep, but you're tuckered out anyway so I'm not sure that I count as a reasonable data point.
3 - Increased frequency of urination, but since that happens when I get nervous anyway, again, I'm not sure if that's a reasonable data point.
4 - You sweat buckets. Now I fence so I have a high sweat expectation; there is an ancient fencing proverb that goes "horses sweat, men perspire, ladies sweetly glow and fencers drip." This is the step beyond dripping.
Most importantly, all other things apart, it means I'm still alert going into the fifth, sixth and seventh hours of competition so I'll happily take the side effects.
*There are those who would say that since I don't take any illegal or illicit drugs I don't count but I'm a biochemist so I have a broad concept of chemistry :)
