Calm Down With the Coffee All Ready

In my previous posts, I made points that I researched myself, but in this post I'm going to discuss what was pointed out in the comments for this blog. One point made was that there are many surprising sources of caffeine that most people aren't aware of, and we should know what they are. Another point was that caffeine has some positive side effects, not just negative ones. The last point I'll address is why college students have such a difficult time getting an adequate amount of sleep.

These are a few examples of sources of caffeine we should know about: Cocoa, (hot chocolate), most chocolates, excluding white chocolate, and a few pain reliever pills, the most common being aspirin. Caffeine is also in most weight loss/diet pills, in a large amount.

If caffeine is consumed in moderation, there are some benefits that can come from it. For example, obviously it makes the consumer more alert and awake, this is because it stimulates the central nervous and cardiovascular system, to wake up the body. It acts as a pain reliever, especially for headaches. Also caffeine is used for premature babies, because of it's ability to open up the airway.

Some reasons why college students aren't able to get enough
sleep are: Stress. We have too much on our plates to not be
stressed right now, and this leads to an inability to fall asleep at night. Also, work overload. We can't always get our work done in enough time to get a good night's sleep, sometimes it's necessary to stay up past a reasonable bed time. If this happens to you, just remember; caffeine is fine in the earlier hours of the day(before 2:00 p.m.), and at reasonable intervals (an hour or so), and in moderate amounts (4-6 cups).

Calm Down With the Coffee All Ready

As I said in my last post, there are many negative side effects that could possibly come from drinking large amounts of caffeine. But there are certain doses and uses that could help us manipulate the effects of caffeine for our benefit.
Don't drink caffeine after 12 pm. Because of the importance of sleep, caffeine should be limited to the earlier hours of the day. Caffeine can stay in the "system" for 3-12 hours which means that your sleep will be adversely affected. Even if you can sleep, the caffeine will still disrupt your R.E.M. sleep.
Drink caffeine before physical activity. The hormones affected by caffeine are also affected during exercise. The release of stress hormones, particularly, is increased by both of these things. So if you exercise after a caffeine intake, your body will feel like the hormones are being released for a reason.
Don't "take" too much. Caffeine is fine in limited amounts, a few cups/cans/bottles/glasses, at large intervals, before the later hours of the day will make you feel alert and awake. But if you drink caffeine constantly throughout the day, you will, without exception, start to become dependent on it, which will make you feel all jittery and headachy without it. But to fix this, you can control your doses. Four to seven caffeine moments are the minimum for the day. And they should be "taken" at regular intervals, not consistently.
Caffeine rocks, but everyone needs to remember that the only way to be truly alert and awake is to get enough sleep, and that caffeine should only be used when this can't be achieved.

Calm Down With the Coffee All Ready

Coffee is the sustaining force behind our busy American lives. We drink coffee in the morning, the afternoon, and even at night. I’ve especially noticed this since I came to a college with three coffee shops, and seen how many people are drinking coffee at all hours of the day. But there comes a point when we have to start thinking about what we’re doing to our body each time we get that extra jolt.

Now I’m not saying I think we should stop drinking coffee, for me that would basically mean stop living. I’m just trying to say that too much coffee (more than 500 mg-600 mg, or

4-7cups) can have detrimental side effects to our brains, bodies, and of course, our sleep, and that we should take that into consideration before we drink yet another cup of coffee.

Caffeine can be a very addictive and sometimes harmful drug. If a person isn’t careful, they could end up having to have it throughout the day, just to stay alert, or even awake.

This could adversely affect our system in many ways.

The reason caffeine works so quickly and effectively is because of what it does to our hormones. Adenosine, adrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine are some of the hormones affected by caffeine. Caffeine makes it hard for your body to absorb adenosine, which is what calms the body. This can give you a boost temporarily, but that night, your body won’t get the proper R.E.M. that it needs, because it isn’t getting the proper amount of adenosine.

Also adrenaline is released, which is what makes you feel alert and awake, but once the caffeine leaves your system, you crash, which results in finding more caffeine. Cortisol is also released, which is called the “stress hormone”. This causes many issues, like weight gain, moodiness, heart disease, and diabetes. One other hormone affected is dopamine. This has the same affect as amphetamines, which can make you feel good after taking them but lead to a significant “low” as they begin to wear off. This is also what causes our dependence on caffeine; it makes the nervous system feel like it always needs to have a lot of dopamine going on. Coffee affects many things in our bodies.

Coffee/Caffeine is large part of many people’s lives, and while it can be a wonderful thing, it can also be very harmful to us, if we have too much each day.