Response to L-Theanine: a 4000 Year Old Mind-Hack
#################################################
:date: 2011-01-11 17:06
:author: Russell Ballestrini
:tags: Code, Greatest Hits, Opinion
:slug: response-to-l-theanine-a-4000-year-old-mind-hack
:status: published
:summary:
  Solve problems and write code in your sleep.

**RE: https://worldoftea.org/caffeine-and-l-theanine**

|dream-solving|

As the original article speculates, the combination and amount of
L-Theanine and caffeine present in tea, appears to have notable affects
on my programming and problem solving abilities. It's difficult to show
conclusive evidence to this claim, but I generally feel most alert and
organized when coding under the influence of 2 - 3 cups. In a typical
day I drink about 4 cups, dosed an hour apart. I feel compelled to
introduce another "mind hack" for problem solving or programming, which
I call "Dream coding"

"Dream coding" is just that, coding at night during sleep. One can
successfully invoke this "mind hack" by provoking thought about the
problem while drifting to sleep. Once sleeping I'm able to see my code
and my brain seems to iteratively problem solve. Most often I'm lucid
during these events; aware of the problem I'm trying to solve and of the
possible solutions. Other times I don't recall performing the solutions,
but when I wake and after my first cup of tea, I'm able to solve my
problem with a optimal and beautiful solution.

PBS NOVA published an episode about this phenomenon: `What are
dreams? <https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/dreams/>`__

Does this happen to you? Have you experienced this?

You should follow me on twitter `here <https://twitter.com/russellbal>`__.

.. |dream-solving| image:: /uploads/2011/01/dream.jpg
   :target: /uploads/2011/01/dream.jpg
   :class: wordwrap-left

.. contents::
