Waking up in the morning, some days are worse then others, but the first thing I always want is coffee. I never really drank it until I came to Penn State, but now I can’t stop. I always knew coffee had caffeine in it, but when I was reading this article from the Huffington Post I was kind of shocked. My favorite place to get coffee is Dunkin’ Donuts, but I was surprised to see that their coffee had less caffeine then another popular coffee spot- Starbucks. Then I was reading another article on the Huffington Post called 10 things you might not know about caffeine and it said that not everyone processes caffeine the same way. Apparently smokers get the kick of caffeine quicker than non-smokers do, but also women who are on birth control don’t feel the caffeine as quick as females who aren’t on the pill. And contrary to popular belief, energy drinks have less caffeine than coffee- a little surprising right? I went on to find some more articles because I was intrigued and came across this article written by Stephen Braun who is a medical writer. He mentioned a study that actually showed that a higher consumption of coffee in the workplace reduced the amount of workplace accidents. Another medical specialist also reported that the caffeine in coffee can also improve short term memory. In this respect, she warned people that drink around 6 cups of coffee can make people jittery, nervous, and irritable. If you ever need a boost just stop by Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks and get your fix!
Coffee? Only with my oxygen. I’m glad you wrote this article, because it gives me a reason to justify my addiction. But check out this article from the New York Times:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/this-is-your-brain-on-coffee/?_r=0
Apparently, after a survey of 400,000 volunteers ages 50-70, a correlation was found between 2-3 cups of coffee and length of life. So, who knows? Maybe we’ll be grateful for drinking all this coffee one day!
P.S. I’m so excited Penn State got an Au Bon Pain- best coffee, bar none.
I have always been a light coffee drinker never really partaking in a steady consumption of it. But after seeing some of these additional benefits from drinking coffee I may begin drinking it more often. If it offers me more things than just staying awake all the more reason to drink it.
I drink coffee way too often. I actually think I’m addicted. I walk into the Starbucks at home and they have my order all ready for me. I think I have become dependent on coffee which isn’t healthy. My days just don’t feel right unless I have my coffee. I usually order my coffee black, but every so often I like getting something different. Starbucks offers many healthy and “skinny” alternatives to their sweet treats which are really good! http://www.starbucks.com/menu/nutrition/20-under-200
I was actually just at Dunkin the other day….with you! I had no idea that people processed caffeine in different ways. Maybe we should try to quit coffee in our apartment, but I don’t think that would work out for other roommate. I also wonder why Dunkin Donuts has less caffeine in their coffee then Starbucks. That’s a ripoff!
Stop drinking coffee for 2 weeks and tell me if you still need it.
I wrote a blog on this a few weeks back, but I won’t plug it here. If you need a “boost” from caffeine, it’s because you’re addicted. That boost you feel when consuming it is actually your brain just returning to the level of functionality typical of people who don’t consume caffeine.
It’s not inherently dangerous, but it can cost a lot of money. It’s a relatively easy addiction to kick (9 days will do it for most people), but the withdrawal sucks.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/07/26/what-caffeine-really-does-to-your-brain/
Coffee is great! But sometimes I feel like the caffeine doesn’t do anything for me! After living in Italy for 7 and a half weeks and only ever drinking espresso, i don’t know if Ill ever be able to go back to drinking American Coffee. I know that will change though as soon as my 6 am alarm goes off on mondays. I have to admit that I personally like iced coffee more than hot coffee, I don’t know what it is but hot coffee gives me terrible headaches. I also find myself chuggin down a redbull more often than i find mysef drinking coffee. Sometimes though caffeine is not the best for you! here is an article on some of the negative effects that coffee has on you!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2012/08/21/caffeine-the-silent-killer-of-emotional-intelligence/
I love Dunkin Donuts coffee more than any coffee I’ve ever had, and I had no idea that Starbucks coffee has more caffeine! I’ll probably continue to go to Dunkin just because it’s so much cheaper and it tastes better in my opinion, and even if it has less caffeine it gets the job done for me. I thought this website is pretty cool, you can click on a certain coffee, soda, energy drink, tea, or energy shot and see how much caffeine each of those has in it. http://www.energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-database
Im not too surprised that coffee has more caffeine than energy drinks because energy drinks have a ton of sugar and other stimulants. It is all these other ingredients that make energy drinks much stronger than coffee. This article goes into greater detail, you might enjoy it.
http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/alcohol,_tobacco,_&_other_drugs/energy_drinks.php