For most of us, slogging through the work week requires mental concentration, focus and a ton of coffee. Unfortunately, we don’t know how much caffeine is actually in our bloodstream at any given moment in the day. Enter Caffeine Zone, an iPhone app that can track your daily intake of coffee.
Many of us might believe that we don’t actually drink that much, but contrary to what we might think, caffeine stays in our bloodstream for quite a long time after we finish that first cup of coffee. To keep us from getting too dependent on caffeine, Frank Ritter designed this app to keep just the right amount of caffeine flowing through our veins.
It’s quite easy to manage. Users enter in the detail of what kind of caffeinated beverage they have consumed and the app then calculates the level of caffeine in the bloodstream as well as its psychological and physical effects on users.
Ritter, a Penn State cognitive scientist, states that the most effective way to take your morning coffee is to have a large cup at the beginning of the day then much smaller cups throughout. According to his 2011 research, the perfect amount of caffeine for mental alertness is around 200-400 milligrams and for sleep is around 100 milligrams.
People that consume coffee too often and quickly can suffer bouts of nausea and nervousness. Those that drink coffee too late can have their sleep greatly affected, which can lead to increased amounts of caffeine consumption the following day.
While the app is not meant to be used as a medical device, it certainly could help people curb their consumption throughout the day, which could lead to more alert individuals at work the next day. The app is available for free download on iTunes only for apple products. There is a competing product on the Droid called Caffeine Tracker.
