In my informal experience, I have found that the caffeine portion of coffee tends to kick in very quickly. The transition from coffee to bloodstream to brain doesn’t seem to take more than a few minutes.
This morning I had to give my wife a ride to work after only sleeping two hours. When I first got up I could barely walk down the hall. After one cup of coffee and a couple of minutes I had almost 100% of my mental facilities up and running to drive there and back without a hitch.
A lot of this might be psychological, of course. But still, this has been my consistent experience.
I dislike coffee intensely, but caffiene is invaluable when it comes to doing large amounts of coursework in a small amount of time. I use simple caffiene tables from a pharmacy, I am sure their effect is largely psycological as I feel the effect in seconds. I try thinking I haven’t swallowed it or that it is a placebo… but still it acts instantly. However I do get distracted more easily…
Any thoughts?
@MC, I guess whatever works for you… you might consider green tea as a healthy alternative if you hate the taste of coffee. I prefer coffee (from the point of view of consuming caffeine) because it seems more natural (and I would assume more healthy) than popping caffeine pills