Just as almost any ordinary college kid trying to get by with their plethora of homework, we have all become far too dependent among caffeine and other stimulants. I know that for a fact seeing as that I am currently drinking a caffeinated coffee in attempts to finish this blog. With some exceptions here and there, some students may preform better without any kind of stimulant, however out of pure personal observation, I have noticed a significant increase in late-night studying and Starbucks coffee cups around campus.
Caffeine is definitely referred to as a kind of stimulant as is Adderall, or amphetamine. I have several friends who have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD and have been prescribed medication like adderall or Ritalin.
Over the course of the past few years in high school and even over the course of my short time here at Penn State, I have noticed it to be a lot more common for students to abuse these two kinds of stimulants. Especially drugs like Adderall or Ritalin even though they may not even be prescribed. I became curious as to what kind of effectiveness both of these drugs (yes, caffeine is considered a drug) serve. Nevertheless, I did some research on what each drug does individually in terms of stimulation to the human brain and which one proves to be more effective.
Surprisingly enough, caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world; even more than alcohol, and more than tobacco. 90% of adults worldwide consume it daily. Surely many people can relate to the “morning coffee” routine. (Science-Based Medicine) On average, the daily intake of coffee in America is about 2 cups (280 mg.)
The reason why anxiety-stricken, busy students consume so much coffee is because it is known to absorb quickly and almost immediately start stimulating the neurotransmitters in the brain. Caffeine enhances alertness, energy and concentration. In adults, caffeine consumption is associated with a negative relationship with all-cause mortality, largely due to a reduction of cardiovascular effects. Causation hasn’t been established though. Because after all, correlation does not always equal causation. Very common side effects of caffeine include agitation, tremors, insomnia and headaches.
Similarly, with prescribed amphetamine medications they are known to improve abilities to focus, work, and learn. ADHD has two primary sources of treatment which are behavioral treatments and drug therapies. The treatment goals with ADHD are symptom based so in other words, the dosage prescribed to the patient is all dependent upon the severity of their case. Nevertheless, stimulants like Adderall or Ritalin all serve the same purpose.
These drugs have a history of being fairly effective and although the counter-comparative data puts up a fair match, there is relatively good data proving that they are, in fact, effective.
In conclusion, I guess the overall framed question would be how does caffeine compare to stimulants in terms of efficacy? Although both proven methods are productive, the matter as a whole is relatively subjective.
Say someone was testing the alternative effectiveness of caffeine rather than prescribed stimulants on a patient with ADHD, that is a whole different experiment that entails different data. However, the question that I posed allowed me to further realize that both are indeed effective but it is all dependent upon the person with what kind of stimulant they prefer.
What I did correlate between the two are the potential negative outcomes that may occur. Both caffeine and amphetamine contain addictive traits (hence why some people are dependent upon coffee everyday) and can lead to serious psychological damage. Withdrawal from these drugs may also lead to headaches, fatigue, weariness, depression, anxiety and irritability.
All in all, what I believe that I took away from this research is that caffeine and prescription drugs like Adderall and Ritalin are highly abused especially among college students. All with the same intention — getting work done quicker and more efficiently in order to feel accomplished. Both of these drugs contain similar negative side effects and beneficial outcomes but in terms of which works better is a matter deemed purely subjective.
Sources:
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/caffeine-for-adhd/
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1182710-overview#a6
I never really thought of caffeine as being a drug but it makes sense since it is so addicting. Caffeine has never really done the trick for me and I have always felt so “weird” for that because so many people use it to wake up or get work done. I definitely agree with you though that caffeine and adderall are being abused especially by college students. I know people who will say they have a “problem” so they get prescribed to adderall so they can get work done especially around finals week. Both caffeine and adderall are not the best options for college students, but I would say caffeine is “safer” way to stay awake and get work done.
How interesting! I know that caffeine is technically considered a drug, but I have always thought of it as being as bad as a drug only if you abuse it. Two cups a day, generally, won’t do any harm in my opinion. However, adderall seems like a different story because taking a drug that needs to be prescribed to you without a prescription just seems a lot more dangerous on so many levels. Clearly, they both get the job done and come with similar positives and negatives. So, I can agree that with you when you say that quality of one over the other is subject, but I am definitely for coffee. You can find alternatives to adderall and caffeine in the following link if you’re interested!
http://mic.com/articles/31771/college-study-tips-5-safe-and-awesome-alternatives-to-adderall
How interesting! I know that caffeine is technically considered a drug, but I have always thought of it as being as bad as a drug only if you abuse it. Two cups a day, generally, won’t do any harm in my opinion. However, adderall seems like a different story because taking a drug that needs to be prescribed to you without a prescription just seems a lot more dangerous on so many levels. Clearly, they both get the job done and come with similar positives and negatives. So, I can agree that with you when you say that quality of one over the other is subject, but I am definitely for coffee.