Perspectives / Survival
The Triangle: Caffeine, Nicotine, and Stimulants in Investment Banking
Awareness and harm reduction around caffeine, nicotine, and stimulants in banking—practical guardrails and sustainable systems.
This is awareness, not medical advice. If you think you have a substance-use or attention issue, talk to a clinician.
Banking is intense. People die doing it. Much of that stems from the coping/"performance" triangle: caffeine, nicotine, and stimulants.
In peak cycles, first-year analysts reported 95–98 hours/week and approximately 5 hours/night of sleep (Goldman Sachs 2021 analyst survey).
After a few 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. stretches, the edges fray. The ritual: alarm at 7:30, swallow an Adderall XR, pop a Zyn, crack a Celsius as the shower heats, ride the adrenaline and cortisol into the office. It's common. For a time, it works—dulls pain, buys focus. But it's a trade: short-term performance for long-term cost.
Your goal in banking: take the money and run. That means surviving and minimizing damage to your body.
Drugs are a steep tradeoff paid in mental and physical health. The highest performers I've met abstain from all of these. But you will encounter them. This article is about awareness and harm reduction.
The Triangle
Why these three? Available, culturally normalized, and fast-acting. The loop is predictable:
Sleep debt → caffeine for alertness → jittery edge → nicotine when that wanes → stimulant to "lock in" → worse sleep → repeat.
Substances mask systems problems: chronic workload, poor sleep, under-fueling, unmanaged stress. Fix the system first. Treat chemistry as a last resort.
Caffeine
Caffeine is ubiquitous—legal, cheap, fast. It's embedded in banking culture through "coffee chats" and "coffee runs." The purpose is primarily social; consuming caffeine is not required.
Dose creep is real. The FDA notes up to 400 mg/day is generally safe for healthy adults (sensitivity varies).
Half-Life Problem
Caffeine's half-life is long. Consume 100 mg at 12:00 p.m.; by midnight, 25 mg remains—equivalent to a cup of green tea. Your dosage window tilts backward easily, harming sleep. Less deep sleep means more fatigue, more caffeine, and so on.
Nicotine
Nicotine's most dangerous component is typically the delivery mechanism. Combustible tobacco is the worst. Smokeless tobacco and vapes avoid combustion byproducts but still deliver a dependence-forming drug with cardiovascular effects. Long-term vape risks are still being studied.
Most common in US offices: vapes and pouches. They feel clean and discreet, so frequent dosing becomes effortless—a pouch during comments, a quick vape after an MD review, another on the commute. When VPs head home at night, the goblin behavior emerges.
Two Dynamics
- Tolerance: Nicotine trains your brain to restore "normal" with a dose. Absence feels like deficit.
- Cue-based habit loops: Redlines hit, Slack pings, hand reaches for pouch.
Layer caffeine or stimulants on top and you end up wired during the day, fragmented at night, with shallow sleep that never restores you. Real-world actigraphy shows nicotine within 4 hours of bedtime is associated with more sleep fragmentation and lower sleep efficiency (; ).
Stimulants
Cocaine and banking is mostly a meme. It's not an ideal work tool, but it persists. Recently, a young associate died of an accidental fentanyl + cocaine overdose (Bloomberg; Business Insider).
Cocaine is illegal, contamination risk is high, the effect is brief, the comedown is messy. Fentanyl adulteration has turned "one bad night" into a life-ending event across industries. Do not touch street drugs.
Prescription Stimulants
Systems That Work
Sleep is the multiplier. If nights run late, anchor a consistent wake time and test short, early-afternoon naps over late-day caffeine spikes.
Feed the machine: Real meals with protein, complex carbs, and fats. Hydrate early and often. Keep electrolytes separate from stimulants.
Environmental inputs: Get outside light in the morning. Take 10–15 minute walks between work blocks. Mood and cognition benefits are larger than they appear.
Workload management: Negotiate deadlines early, batch similar tasks, keep a parking-lot doc to reduce task-switching.
Two no-stimulant zones:
- First 60–90 minutes after waking (let cortisol do its job)
Red Flags
Physiological
- Resting HR persistently above baseline by double digits
- Chest pain
- Fainting
- Severe palpitations
These warrant medical evaluation.
Behavioral
- Needing substances to feel "normal"
- Escalating doses
- Hiding use
- Missing work or damaging relationships
Sleep
- Near-total sleep loss more than 2–3 nights per week
- Insomnia persisting despite exhaustion
If any of this sounds familiar, involve professionals. Your doctor is a confidential starting point. Many employers offer Employee Assistance Programs covering sleep, anxiety, and substance concerns discreetly.
If you suspect attention issues, get assessed properly. Self-medicating with street drugs is dangerous, illegal, and can jeopardize the career you're working to build.