“Coffee is my life. I can’t go one day without it”, said my roommate, Hannah. My roommate always makes a cup of coffee before going to her first class. She said she can’t go to her classes unless she drinks a coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, so I don’t know how coffee makes it so special that people could not live without it. However, I have heard from some people that, it is not a coffee that keeps you awake, but it’s the psychological sense that you think it is when actually is not. In order to clear up this confusion, I did some research to see if coffee really keeps people awake and positive and negative facts of consumption of caffeine.
To begin with, coffee contains a substance called, caffeine and this is what makes people become more energized and awake from tiredness or sleepiness. It can also be found in different beverages such as tea, soft drinks and other more. Caffeine has a natural bitter taste just like coffee has a distinctive bitter taste; however caffeine contained beverages that are sold in the markets have already processed to lower the strong taste of it.
When people take caffeine from foods or drinks, our nervous system embraces caffeine as adenosines, human chemical cells that are produced in daily activities. When caffeine reaches nervous system, it connects with adenosine receptors and allows our attentiveness to increase. When they are linked together, caffeine prevents our bodies to slow down. The energy that we get from caffeine could last up to six hours. For this reason, students and adults depend on caffeinated drinks to stay up and do their unfinished works or to get over the sleepiness in the morning.
Caffeine has other benefits than waking people from sleep. It increases the memory of people and lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. On the other hand, too much consumption of caffeine has side effects to our bodies. First, it could lower the calcium level in the body. When we lack in calcium, it could result to severe diseases like osteoporosis and hypocalcaemia. Second, for those people who experience anxiety and stress often, caffeine can boost these more and give worse feeling of anxiety.
In conclusion my research about caffeine answered my question if coffee really awakes people up in the morning. It not only gives energy to people, but also could prevent some disease and raise the memorization, while it could also have negative effects in our body. For example caffeine drops of calcium level and experience of angst and nervousness to some people.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/454988-how-well-does-coffee-work-to-keep-you-awake/
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/caffeine-awake.htm
I thought this post was extremely relevant to any college student wondering how caffeine is affecting their body. I’m always hesitant to consume large quantities of caffeine, because of the things I’ve heard about energy drinks and sorts. Coffee, however, doesn’t seem to be that bad of a way to help wake your body up and jump start your day. I agree with this post, and thank you for sharing!
I find this post extremely relevant to my life because I am among some of the people that need atleast a little caffeine everyday. I started drinking coffee when I was in middle school and ever since then I have been absolutely hooked. While in high school I can honestly say I went very few days where I didn’t have a cup of coffee in the morning. At one point when we went on vacation I even experienced some withdrawal symptoms because I hadn’t had my daily cup of coffee in quite awhile. I was interested in your post how you discussed not only the negative effects that caffeine can have on our bodies, but also the positives. Personally, I didn’t realize that there were any positives. I agree that coffee can help you stay awake in the morning, but also I have realized that it no longer has the same effect on my body that it used to. It does still wake me up a little, but I think that once you become to that amount of caffeine consumption everyday your body gets used to it. Here’s an article that you can look at that discusses this resistance: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/108/6/e38.full
My senior year in high school was when I really began drinking more coffee. I was attending a lot of sporting events, trying to make time for friends, and do my school work so sleep rarely happened. Every morning I would stop at McDonald’s and get a coffee on the way to school and gradually began to notice my dependence on it growing stronger. By March it got to the point where I had to make coffee at home when I woke up because driving to McDonald’s to get it wasn’t soon enough. Then when I came to Penn State for summer session I didn’t have a coffee machine and never had time to stop and buy coffee on the way to class. I ended my coffee addiction on accident. I still drink it now, but not every day and I’m not nearly as dependent. If anyone else wants to break their habit, I found this article on how to do so (and it’s not cold turkey like I did).
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9165/how-to-quit-caffeine-in-one-week-painlessly.html
At college I need coffee after my first class during my breaks in order to focus on getting work done and staying awake during my next class. However I also feel that it could be more of a psychological need and less of a physical caffeine need. One time I tried to do work in-between class without coffee and I lasted about one minute until I ended up packing up my bag and stopping at the nearest Starbucks. After one sip I already felt more alive and sat down for the hour doing work. I didn’t even drink half of the coffee before I threw it away on my way to class. Just having the cup next to me was better than nothing. Maybe I just have an easily manipulated mindset that if I think coffee will make me feel better then it will, regardless of the effects of caffeine. Also, I enjoy the taste of it so maybe having the simple pleasure is enough to give the energy boost too.
I hated coffee until I came to college. I always told myself I never wanted to depend on coffee to keep me awake to study for an exam, or to depend on it so I can wake up early in the morning. I disagree with you when you say that you think it is the psychological sense that it keeps you up when i believe that it really is not. There are certain medicines that put you to sleep which are not a pyschological game. For example, when I am sick, I take nyquil at night. I do not just fall asleep right away because I think it is gonna make me, there are obviously ingredients in it which allow me to sleep right away. Same thing with caffeine but instead of medicine that makes you sleep, there are ingredients which keep you up . think it would be very interesting to study in class what caffeine really is and what is in it.I would love to know which disease caffeine can cause. here are some disease caused by caffeine. http://www.medicinenet.com/caffeine/related-conditions/index.htm
I love coffee. If I could have a Starbucks in my house that would be ideal. I started drinking coffee when I was 17 and in high school. I would stop on my way to school and get an iced coffee. Since I started drinking coffee at Starbucks, which is one of the coffee chains who provides a stronger blend, I have found that if I go to Dunkin Donuts or Tim Hortons that there coffee is too weak, and that I need more of it to feel awake. The mornings that I don’t make it to Starbucks, I notice that I am more irritable and will sometimes have a headache. This article I found though says how one cannot become addicted to coffee as someone could become addicted to drugs. However it does say that caffeine can cause a mild dependence. Which I’m guessing is what I have. This is why doctors don’t worry about coffee “addiction” because it does not have the severe repercussions as an addiction to drugs or alcohol would have.
http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffeine-myths-and-facts