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Caffeine Failure

 Caffeine Failure
type
FeatureClass
 Caffeine Failure
label
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure
page
CaffeineFailure
 Caffeine Failure
comment
Someone Must Have Caffeine (or some other stimulant)—but is so exhausted, even that won't ward off sleep.
This is Truth in Television for three reasons: First, if a person is sufficiently exhausted, no amount of caffeine or stimulant will keep them awake. Caffeine works by suppressing the sleep hormones adenosine and melatonin; if the brain has already managed to signal for those to be released into the bloodstream, caffeine has no effect. Second, people develop a tolerance for caffeine leading to diminishing returns on each subsequent dose. On people who are naturally "wired" to a certain degree, like those with ADHD, especially those who have been on medication for a long time (since ADHD medications are typically powerful stimulants that make caffeine look weak by comparison), caffeine may have drastically limited effects, so a dose that would make most people into jittery insomniacs may just cause them to yawn less for an hour. In some cases, it may even make the individual more drowsy. Third, just like with other active compounds such as alcohol and morphine, some people may be genetically predisposed to deal with caffeine faster, having a liver that’s got a greater capacity to metabolise it. This is why (again, much like alcohol) there are some people who can drink a cup of coffee at midnight and sleep soundly, while others might drink a cup at 7 PM and not be able to sleep at all for the whole night.

Examples
 Caffeine Failure
fetched
2024-03-18T12:00:27Z
 Caffeine Failure
parsed
2024-03-18T12:00:27Z
 Caffeine Failure
processingComment
Dropped link to ImmuneToDrugs: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Caffeine Failure
processingComment
Dropped link to playedfordrama: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Caffeine Failure
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Caffeine Failure / int_1f72b18d
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_1f72b18d
comment
In the Tom and Jerry short "Sleepy-Time Tom", Tom is trying not to get caught sleeping, so he takes pot after pot of coffee. Eventually he has a Balloon Belly slushing with gallons of coffee, yet is thoroughly exhausted and falls asleep shortly afterwards.
 Caffeine Failure / int_1f72b18d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_1f72b18d
featureConfidence
1.0
 TomAndJerry
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_1f72b18d
 Caffeine Failure / int_261c8d3f
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_261c8d3f
comment
In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode spoofing A Nightmare on Elm Street, Bart & Lisa drink coffee to stay awake so Groundskeeper Willie won't kill them in their sleep. Eventually they fall asleep anyway.
 Caffeine Failure / int_261c8d3f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_261c8d3f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Simpsons
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_261c8d3f
 Caffeine Failure / int_2bbcacd9
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_2bbcacd9
comment
In the Looney Tunes cartoon, "Bedtime for Sniffles", Sniffles the Mouse is trying to stay awake until midnight on Christmas Eve so he can see Santa Claus. Throughout the cartoon, he keeps nodding off. He finally decides that coffee will keep him awake. It ultimately fails. By the end, he falls asleep right before midnight, just barely missing Santa.
 Caffeine Failure / int_2bbcacd9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_2bbcacd9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Looney Tunes
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_2bbcacd9
 Caffeine Failure / int_2dd96b3
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_2dd96b3
comment
Tess from Prodigal drinks coffee in order to avoid having nightmares about how she made a deal with Var which led to the death of her mother, but it results in her being tired during the day and often falling asleep mid-conversation.
 Caffeine Failure / int_2dd96b3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_2dd96b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Prodigal (Video Game)
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_2dd96b3
 Caffeine Failure / int_2e3e7ac2
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_2e3e7ac2
comment
Justice League:
In "Only A Dream", Batman has been up for three days in a row and needs to track down a supervillain attacking his teammates in their dreams. He grabs something super-caffeinated, but the rush is noted to wear off quickly. He makes it through sheer stubbornness, and the episode ends with him conked out.
Earlier in the same episode, Batman tries to wake Superman by giving him some stimulants but isn't surprised when it fails. "This is someone who could have a building fall on him and not feel it."
 Caffeine Failure / int_2e3e7ac2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_2e3e7ac2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Justice League
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_2e3e7ac2
 Caffeine Failure / int_34078ffe
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_34078ffe
comment
Mayday:
Because they lost so much sleep flying into Newark, the pilots of Colgan Air Flight 3407 didn't get even slightly awakened by a cup of coffee in-universe.
Another in-universe example is the captain of Trans-Colorado Flight 2286; the coffee he drank before takeoff did nothing to ward off the effects of his cocaine withdrawal.
 Caffeine Failure / int_34078ffe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_34078ffe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mayday
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_34078ffe
 Caffeine Failure / int_3c4ddc1e
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_3c4ddc1e
comment
In one story arc of For Better or for Worse, Michael is so nervous about an upcoming series of exams that he pops a bunch of caffeine pills to help him pull an all-nighter—one of several in a row, as it appears. The last panel shows him sitting at his desk, eyes wide open... and snoring.
 Caffeine Failure / int_3c4ddc1e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_3c4ddc1e
featureConfidence
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 For Better or for Worse (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_3c4ddc1e
 Caffeine Failure / int_3d3365b4
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_3d3365b4
comment
In Before I Wake, young Cody's dreams manifest in real life. He is so terrified of his night terrors of a being he calls the "Canker Man" that he frequently drinks soda and pops caffeine pills at night to stay awake. One night, though, his brain simply shuts down from lack of sleep, and is attacked by a manifestation of the class bully while yelling, "I'm awake! This shouldn't be happening!" over and over.
 Caffeine Failure / int_3d3365b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_3d3365b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Before I Wake
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_3d3365b4
 Caffeine Failure / int_3fae8b5e
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_3fae8b5e
comment
FreeFall. Mr. Raibert has answered several emergency calls during the night, and has taken some high-caffiene energy drinks. When he stops answering calls, Max Post and the chief of police look for him. He's found asleep at the keyboard, unable to continue.
 Caffeine Failure / int_3fae8b5e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_3fae8b5e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Freefall (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_3fae8b5e
 Caffeine Failure / int_4522fd1
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_4522fd1
comment
Whateley Universe: As with alcohol and other drugs, those with Regeneration powers have idiosyncratic reactions to caffeine. The most common result is that it is neutralized completely, as said in Round and Round (Part 2):
 Caffeine Failure / int_4522fd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_4522fd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Whateley Universe
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_4522fd1
 Caffeine Failure / int_4c949405
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_4c949405
comment
The Help!...It's the Hair Bear Bunch! episode "The Bear Who Came To Dinner" centers on Square Bear who is faking an injury that zookeeper Peevly is on the hook for. Square is in a body cast, so to ensure that he doesn't move from bed, Peevly tells Botch to watch him 24 hours a day. "And don't let me catch you asleep on the job, you hear?!" he charges. Botch eventually does fall asleep...with his eyes open, giving the bears the chance to sneak out to a drive-in movie.
 Caffeine Failure / int_4c949405
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_4c949405
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hair Bear Bunch
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_4c949405
 Caffeine Failure / int_5c1d9db0
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_5c1d9db0
comment
Peripheral plot line in House, M.D. episode "Help Me"—the medical mystery of the week—stems from the crane operator apparently having fallen asleep while working, despite being literally overloaded with caffeine (due to ingestion of lots of coffee and caffeine pills). House believes this irregularity to be a symptom of a hard-to-diagnose disease, and diagnosing patients with these is his favorite part of the job.
 Caffeine Failure / int_5c1d9db0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_5c1d9db0
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 HouseMD
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_5c1d9db0
 Caffeine Failure / int_63c1175b
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_63c1175b
comment
Ultra Fast Pony. In "Smoky and the Crystals", Princess Cadance is eating coffee beans in order to stay awake and keep casting a magic spell. It gets bad enough that she screams at random intervals and has crazy hallucinations. By the end of the episode, she collapses from exhaustion anyway.
 Caffeine Failure / int_63c1175b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_63c1175b
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1.0
 Ultra Fast Pony (Web Video)
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_63c1175b
 Caffeine Failure / int_722ce24d
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_722ce24d
comment
The Inbetweeners: In "Exam Time", Will is overworking himself and relying on energy drinks and caffeine pills to keep him awake whilst revising. His revision efforts go horribly wrong, with him failing to understand anything he reads no matter how many times he reads it, and starting to get confused over what certain words mean. Simon suggests he get more sleep and stop drinking energy drinks, but Will refuses, insisting that they help. Eventually Will suffers a Potty Failure while taking his last exam.
 Caffeine Failure / int_722ce24d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_722ce24d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Inbetweeners
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_722ce24d
 Caffeine Failure / int_7d1c83da
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_7d1c83da
comment
Better Call Saul: In "Fall"—a bottle of No-Doz is visible in an overworked Kim Wexler's car, shortly before she falls asleep at the wheel and drives off the road, resulting in a broken arm.
 Caffeine Failure / int_7d1c83da
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_7d1c83da
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1.0
 Better Call Saul
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_7d1c83da
 Caffeine Failure / int_8d81bb26
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_8d81bb26
comment
The "Engaged Part 1" episode of NCIS has the team having to work overtime on the Mystery of the Week, and Gibbs at one point walks in on Abby's lab to see a huge pile of empty Caf-POW! cups on her desk. She says she's written an algorithm to determine how long she can go on like that and that she's got about five minutes before she becomes "Zabby or zombie Abby".
 Caffeine Failure / int_8d81bb26
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_8d81bb26
featureConfidence
1.0
 NCIS
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_8d81bb26
 Caffeine Failure / int_9da908aa
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_9da908aa
comment
Yellowjackets: Taissa, who has a history of sleepwalking both as a teen and as an adult, is seen drinking cup after cup in "Edible Complex" to keep herself awake. She ends up hallucinating her son has come to visit.
 Caffeine Failure / int_9da908aa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_9da908aa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Yellowjackets
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_9da908aa
 Caffeine Failure / int_9e2dbb4d
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_9e2dbb4d
comment
Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby drink huge quantities of coffee so they can earn enough overtime money for concert tickets. By the time they arrive they're so exhausted they fall asleep after the opening chord.
 Caffeine Failure / int_9e2dbb4d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_9e2dbb4d
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1.0
 Regular Show
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_9e2dbb4d
 Caffeine Failure / int_a8e4ca16
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_a8e4ca16
comment
The children of the two rival houses of Step by Step have a bet to see who can stay up for the longest period of time. At one point, Karen is about to crack, and Dana pushes her to keep going and drink more and more coffee ('Coffee is our friend!'), even as its effectiveness is diminishing.
 Caffeine Failure / int_a8e4ca16
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_a8e4ca16
featureConfidence
1.0
 Step by Step
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_a8e4ca16
 Caffeine Failure / int_ad41ee71
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_ad41ee71
comment
SuperMarioLogan: An illogical example with the video "Bowser Junior's all-nighter". Junior, Cody, and Joseph all drink a bunch of Red Bull, Monster Energy, and 5-hour energy drinks, and instead of staying up all night or even dying from overdose, the effects wear off after a measly one hour and they fall asleep.
 Caffeine Failure / int_ad41ee71
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_ad41ee71
featureConfidence
1.0
 SuperMarioLogan (Web Video)
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_ad41ee71
 Caffeine Failure / int_ae4b247
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_ae4b247
comment
Golden Girls: A variation on this trope happens in "From Here to the Pharmacy". Dorothy, upset with her mother for hoarding money for Dorothy's siblings Gloria and Phil while forcing Dorothy to "go without," remarks that if she had the money, she could have been living "in a swinging condo" instead of with...
 Caffeine Failure / int_ae4b247
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_ae4b247
featureConfidence
1.0
 GoldenGirls
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_ae4b247
 Caffeine Failure / int_d9af8733
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_d9af8733
comment
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors had a character actually eating coffee grinds in an attempt to stay awake and avoid Freddy from trying to kill her in her dreams. It did not work, at all.
 Caffeine Failure / int_d9af8733
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_d9af8733
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_d9af8733
 Caffeine Failure / int_e936047a
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_e936047a
comment
In the Hey Arnold! episode "Helga Sleepwalks", when Helga starts sleepwalking to Arnold's house every night, Helga decides to drink a lot of coffee to keep herself awake. It doesn't work and Helga sleepwalks to Arnold's house the following night.
 Caffeine Failure / int_e936047a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_e936047a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hey Arnold!
hasFeature
Caffeine Failure / int_e936047a
 Caffeine Failure / int_f43b3a51
type
Caffeine Failure
 Caffeine Failure / int_f43b3a51
comment
In Diagnosis: Murder episode "Sea No Evil", Rip McCord believes himself to suffer from this while working as a life guard, resulting in a woman drowning. However, it turns out that someone added tranquilizer to one of his coffee, allowing him—as the audience already knows—to murder this woman in the sea.
 Caffeine Failure / int_f43b3a51
featureApplicability
1.0
 Caffeine Failure / int_f43b3a51
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1.0
 Diagnosis: Murder
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Caffeine Failure / int_f43b3a51

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Caffeine Failure
processingCategory2
Index Failure
 Caffeine Failure
processingCategory2
This Is Your Index on Drugs
 Cardcaptor Rad / Fan Fic / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 A Nightmare on Elm Street (Franchise) / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Undead Unluck (Manga) / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Air Crash Investigation / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 House / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Mayday / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Step by Step / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 The Golden Girls / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 The Inbetweeners / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Neko Atsume (Video Game) / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure
 Ultra Fast Pony (Web Video) / int_35e49acc
type
Caffeine Failure