A standard caffeine tablet is 200 mg, about two strong coffees in one swallow. It peaks around 45 to 60 minutes and the noticeable effect runs 4 to 6 hours, but that is not when it leaves you.
Felt effect vs. actual clearance
The alert feeling fades before the caffeine does. With a half-life of 5 to 6 hours, a 200 mg tablet taken at 2 p.m. still leaves about 100 mg in your body at 8 p.m. and around 50 mg at 2 a.m.
Why pills hit harder than coffee
- The dose is exact and large. You can sip a coffee slowly; a tablet delivers everything at once.
- There is no volume to slow you down. A litre of coffee fills you up long before 400 mg does. A tablet does not.
- It is easy to lose count. Two tablets and one coffee already puts you near the 400 mg daily ceiling for healthy adults.
Using them without wrecking your sleep
- Set a cutoff. For a 200 mg tablet, aim for at least 8 hours before bed.
- Start at half. 100 mg is a real dose for most people, especially if you rarely use caffeine.
- Never stack them with energy drinks. That is how people reach 600 mg without noticing.
- Skip pure caffeine powder entirely. A teaspoon can hold a lethal amount, which is why the FDA has warned about it.
Log the tablet like any other drink in Caffy and it shows you the exact hour it stops threatening your sleep.