I have taught quite a few of courses now where a good number of the people attending were diagnosed with ADHD, and they were often drinking cans of Monster energy drink throughout the course.
Running a course with several people with ADHD in it can be lively at times – although not always, because some people with ADHD have the inattentive type rather than the hyperactive-impulsive one. So the first time I spotted the cans of energy drink I thought I was in for an even more interesting session!
Then I discovered that many people with ADHD use caffeine to give them focus. For others, caffeine can send them to sleep.
Asking the course members to not sip Monster energy drink all day could made the session less productive, so I was glad I didn’t do that. If anything, bringing cans of Monster suggested they cared enough about the training to want to improve their focus while they were there.
I posted the above on LinkedIn a few weeks ago and here are a few of the comments other people posted below it:
“Caffeine puts me to sleep. No one believed me when I told them this.”
“Caffeine calms me down.”
“I’m AudHD and have bipolar disorder and sadly caffeine makes me hypomanic but it sends my AudHD husband to sleep”
“I never drink energy drinks to be honest, I find them too stimulating.” (From an autistic person).
So that’s a wide range of effects from just a small number of people.
As I’m not a medical professional, I can’t comment on how healthy it is to use caffeine for focus. If I had a client that was drinking a few cups of average strength coffee or tea a day I wouldn’t be concerned, but if they were drinking far more or they couldn’t function at all without caffeine then I’d ask them to speak to their GP.
So if you find caffeine affects you in different ways to most other people, I thought it might help to read that you’re not alone.
What’s fascinating to me is the many different ways our brains all work and that it’s so important to not assume anyone sees the world or functions in the same way that I do.
If you’d like a small business mentor who works with your unique brain, here’s more about what I do!