“I’ll have a Venti Pike Roast Coffee with sugar free hazelnut syrup!” My daily run to Starbucks before class every morning has become an unbreakable routine. I, along with the majority of overworked College students find themselves relying on the caffeinated beverage to push through an endless day of classes, study sessions, and homework. A Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or WAWA are conveniently found in practically every town in the US, and millions of Americans find themselves brewing an individual serving of coffee with their Keurig machines in the comfort of their homes. With this in mind, do Americans ACTUALLY run on Coffee, or is it simply a placebo effect; energizing people by simply having the hot beverage in hand. Illustrated in the graph below, the percentage of adults ordering a specialized coffee every day is on the rise:
First I examined the question, do Humans perform their daily tasks more efficiently with the caffeine stimulate? Although very hard to properly examine, I researched a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology where The Scientists deprived 379 people of coffee for 16 hours, then asked them to rate their levels of awareness. The scientists then gradually gave the participants caffeine. It took routine coffee drinkers 250 mg of caffeine before they reported alertness levels equal to non-coffee drinkers. The results show that the caffeine only aids in mollifying the withdrawal symptoms. Furthermore, in non-coffee-drinkers, the caffeine they consumed didn’t improve alertness. Therefore, the caffeine only seemed to have an affect on routine “coffee-holics”. Additionally, there are some major loopholes within the study, because it relies on self reported results. (Hence, the “placebo effect” could be preset). In other words, the withdrawal symptoms that coffee lovers experience when not consuming their desired amount of daily caffeine is a major factor to any caffeine related experiment. While alertness may improve after participants are given coffee, it’s most likely a recovery from caffeine withdrawal. Non-coffee drinkers alertness stayed the same while given caffeine because their bodies were not reliant on the caffeine stimulate in the first place. Overall, this individual study shows that caffeine only aids regular coffee drinkers who have become dependent on the stimulate.
A similar study, performed by a renowned neuroscientist who blogs as a “Neuroskeptic”, had researchers administer either decaf or regular coffee to self proclaimed coffee addicts, then had them do a difficult computer task. Those drinking regular coffee did significantly better on the task. Interestingly enough, when told that coffee typically helped with the task, the volunteers actually did worse after consuming decaf coffee, while performance improved after drinking regular coffee. The results may hint towards a placebo-effect where coffee-lovers convince themselves that caffeine is needed to perform efficiently, and therefore exert more effort when there’re given the stimulate. However, in this study everyone was an avid coffee drinker, so the reason caffeine improved could have again been the removal of withdrawal symptoms, and not a real benefit of caffeine.
After examining both studies, I’ve come to the conclusion that while Americans may “Run on coffee” from habit, we could all survive without the caffeinated beverage just fine.
Your blog about the effects of coffee really caught my eye! I too find myself stopping to get coffee on the way to class every morning. I’ve convinced myself that my daily caffeine intake is crucial to a productive and alert day of classes and studying. With that being said, I found the Neuropsychopharmacology study mentioned in your blog very interesting. It basically proves that the caffeine stimulant people rely one in the beverage isn’t much more than a placebo effect. Additionally, the fact that routine coffee drinks needed 250 mg of caffeine before they reached alertness levels equal to non-coffee drinkers further proves that people do not need caffeine to perform daily tasks efficiently. The caffeine simply aided in mollifying withdrawal symptoms, which are nonexistent in the non-coffee drinkers. Although coffee may not succeed in improving one’s alertness there are some hidden benefits to consuming the beverage, they’re further explained in this video
This post is so accurate as I see myself getting coffee everyday just to have, not because it helps me. Many people even say that they can’t drink coffee at night because they will be unable to fall asleep. I find this completely false to my body now because I’m so use to having coffee everyday just to have, not to help keep me awake. Here is link to show that we aren’t the only country to live off of coffee.
Such a great and relevant topic. I have always wondered if the benefits of coffee were significant enough. Confirming the studied you’ve researched, I realized with myself that if I drink coffee for a week straight I will start to “need” it and feel withdrawal symptoms. Once I am clean I feel good and much healthier. I wonder why after these facts people still drink coffee? Is it because people like have a routine? Or like the idea of a drink making someone’s performance better? I found thiscontradicting</ article to your blog, although I still believe in your claims. I think the cons to drinking coffee are far more sufficient than the pros.
This was actually a very interesting for me, as I myself am an avid coffee drinker! When I don’t get my daily caffeine intake, I experience withdrawal headaches, and I was always wondering whether there was any placebo effect to it.