Gaming Fuel: 4-way Shootout 675
Neil Yates writes "It is 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. You have been up all night, fragging away in a Quake3 clan match. Your early morning schedule wore you out and you never had time to take a nap. The server is resetting between games, and you are starting to get a little sleepy-eyed. Milk is not going to do one bit of good and regular Coke or Pepsi are too run of the mill. The last thing that will keep you awake and at the top of your game is some pansy sports drink. Which of these four energy drinks do you reach for?
Pepsi Blue, Vanilla Coke, Dr. Pepper's Red Fusion, or Sobe's Mr. Green?"
What's wrong with plain old Mt Dew? It did represent 80% of my intake by volume from age 15 to 22.
Missed the most important category - cleanability (Score:3, Interesting)
Energy drinks (Score:2, Interesting)
Some of my gleanings.. Actually, caffeine is a bad ingredient to use to create *programming* energy drinks because even though it stimulates the peripheral nervous system, it doesnt improve attention span. Guarana = caffeine.. so the same caveat applies.. Ephedra also isn't good, although it's a bit better than caffeine for programming..
Some things I think would make excellent additions.. Alerting neurotransmitter precursors such as tyrosine and phenylalanine improve vigilance..
DMAE (a precursor of acetylcholine) is also a good pepper-upper..
Pyroglutamic acid.. (a relative of piracetam) is a good neuronutrient that has a stimulating effect.. I could go on and on.. *laugh*
The trick is in covering up the tastes.. Some trade secrets in there.. Should I tell them?
Chris
Re:Drink of choice. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:How about Water Joe? (Score:2, Interesting)
Insightful? more like troll.
Low sugar, moderate caffeine (Score:3, Interesting)
I think I have funny blood sugar things going on -- like many other modern Americans -- and the sugar content of what I consume has a huge impact on my wakefulness. Specifically, if I consume too much sugar too quickly it puts me to sleep. Likewise, too much caffeine doesn't help much. Beyond a reasonable level of caffeine, typically one 8-ounce light brew coffee (light has more caffeine), I just get red irritated eyes and slightly jittery. (The volume of coffee that's right for you may depend on how much of it you usually drink.)
Thus to stay up all night I have to plan ahead. I try to have a coffee a few hours before I'm going to need it, then sip something low-sugar with moderate caffeine as the night progresses. It sounds kind of sissy, but iced black tea is:
a) refreshing
b) cheap (important!!!)
c) seems to have the right amount of caffeine
d) is low sugar
e) can be produced on demand in any desired quantity
Another pleasant side effect of iced tea is that, even after consuming large volumes, it doesn't leave me so rotund as other drinks might. This is also convenient for being a stealth geek: a narrow radar signature leaves most people clueless to the fact that I know anything about computers, which in turn means fewer "say, you look like you know computers: when I try to use my American Online..." queries.
Mountain Dew actually seems to have about the right amount of caffeine, but it also has so much sugar that the caffeine is, for me, effectively negated.
It's only 9:34 on the West Coast where I'm at, but maybe I'll report back around 5:00 AM...
on a related note (Score:5, Interesting)
within it mentions an experiment where some lab rats were kept awake for ~2 weeks (the longest human record is 11 days) and then they died. the acticle keep emphasizing that it was not proven that the death was caused by sleep depravation. but well... They just don't want to admit that they tortured a buncha cute lil mice to death.
on a even MORE related point: try red bull / blue donkey / green chicken and all that -- they seem to work pretty well. i drove across the US (SJ to NY) on those. 2 bux a can (8.6 oz) is steep, but hey -- when you gotta stay awake, you GOTTA stay awake.
lastly... erm... try some speed. they work too, so i hear.
Somebody has to rain on the parade (Score:5, Interesting)
An interesting page about liquid candy [saveharry.com]
Some deaths associated with red bull/energy drinks [go.com]
Another caffeine death [abc.net.au]
I am not saying give up your drinks. But I am saying be smart about it. Don't drink/eat so much caffeine that you make yourself feel miserable with the symptoms [medsafe.govt.nz] of too much caffeine. while it is thought that 10 grams [plym.ac.uk] is a fatal overdose, I would be willing to bet that a fraction of that can make you feel pretty miserable and is very easily reached with some of the caffeinated drinks/candies/pills out there. A couple liters of mountain dew, four red bulls, and a handful of penguine mints or any combination thereof places you at about 1 gram.
It goes without saying drinking alcohol at the same time exacerbates things.
Also, caffeine is not a substitute for sleep. There are reasons that the body needs to sleep. So if you are depriving your body of sleep for whatever reason you need to start asking yourself what your priorities are. Sleep "binging" where you go without sleep all week and catch up on the weekends is also unhealthy, but this is another topic in itself.
This post is not intended to be medical advice. See your doctor if you have any questions/symptoms. Yada yada yada.
Re:It's about time (Score:5, Interesting)
And getting it out of your system is just about the worst thing on earth. I've done every drug on the market from pot to heroin, and meth is probably second only to herion in the "bad comedown" arena.
I strongly suggest sleep over drugs. It took me years to figure that one out, but I'm so glad I did.
Moral of story: "Drugs are bad, MM-kay?"
Re:bah... (Score:4, Interesting)
Turkish Coffee (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not as convenient as a can of Red Bull, but if you're really looking for the ultimate (!) caffeine kick, you want Turkish/Lebanese coffee--that's the thick, grainy stuff with cardamom.
It tastes great, and smells good too--the perfect solution if you don't mind a bit of, err, sand, in your drink. One tiny cup of the stuff will send you off the walls for hours.
Re:Caffeine Baaaad (Score:3, Interesting)
The real downside for me is missing coffee when I eat out, and walking past the place with the really nice cappuchinos every bloody day.
Next up, biting my nails, then possibly red meat or alcohol!
Re:Those aren't even energy drinks! (Score:4, Interesting)