Week 11 & 12: Too Much of the Good Stuff

 I won't minch words by making some lame "It's summer, I'm busy!" excuse. Blogging every week was my full intention even in the summer months, but alas after starting my job (and going places with friends, family, and mon cherie), it took a toll on my allotted blogging time.

 But enough about me, let's talk about something very controversial, very tasty, and very common. Yep, we're talking about coffee. Coffee consumption isn't a "yes or no" issue--it's not like sushi, you either hate it or you love it. It's not black or white; pun intended. Coffee comes in all sorts of drinks and mixes that the possibilities are endless. Some like it straight up, some like it with tons of cream, some like it cold, some like it hot. Either way you go, coffee is treated as not only a necessity in American life (take the huge franchise Starbucks for instance) but also as an art form around the world for those who grow and roast the coffee beans to perfection. (The beans are roasted at a mere 500 degrees for up to an hour or more.)

The thing about coffee that makes it most popular is something within the coffee: caffeine. And as it is mostly known for, caffeine is one of the most abused substances. Known as 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, caffiene is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a psychoactive stimulant drug. In other words, it's basically a drug.
According to the National Coffee Association, on average 112 million people (around 54% of people) in the US drink coffee on a daily basis--that's over 336 million cups of caffeine infused beverages being pumped into millions of peoples' bodily systems. The question is, what exactly does coffee do for you and to you?

Now I'm quite sure many of my readers are coffee drinkers. In fact, I could even go so far as to say half of my readers have or do consume coffee. The thing about coffee is it seems harmless. You grab a cup of joe in the morning, hit up Starbucks in the afternoon, and it's no big deal. Or you buy a Monster on your way to work for an extra kick. (Let's not even get into energy drinks...another time, another rant). And by the way, I'm talking regular, non-decaf coffee here. The kind that contains caffeine...[the whole point of this article]...anyways, coffee acts as a ergogenic, increasing a person's mental or physical labor. It gives you a burst of energy, but really all it does is temporarily remove the sensation of being tired. Positive side effects of coffee in a moderate consumption means increased attention and memory performance. Negative sides effects can mean a crash, a headache, or drowsiness and nervousness. In other words, you could easily because a lethargic jerk after you drank alot.

Recently I had the pleasure (sarcasm) of experiencing caffiene overdose. Let me say this: I hate caffiene. Coffee in itself is kinda cool---all those frappa crappa drinks coffee baristas make are pretty legit. Just take out the caffiene dependency, side effects, and utter feeling of grogginess and I'll be fine.

What happened to me was this: I was at a journalism training camp thing and after going for a couple days on little sleep, I didn't think it would hurt if I grabbed a 4-shot expresso latte from the host college's nifty cafe. The first afternoon I had it wasn't so bad. It gave me INSANE energy, so much so that even after like 8 or so games of beastly volleyball, two games of human Dutch Blitz, and two impromptu skits, I was still bouncing off the walls all evening and well into the wee hours of the night. In the morning, I felt completely normal. That afternoon, after arriving back at camp, I needed another pick-me-up. 4 shot latte-- no big deal right? Wrong. Very, very, very wrong. I had the kick, this time ten times stronger (probably adding with the caffeine still left in my tiny 100 pound frame). But after an hour or so, I was nursing a killer headache and jittery limbs. I popped one of my migraine pills, not even thinking---just reasoning it could help. Later, after dinner, I remembered I needed to take my concussion meds as well, and being tired, exhausted, and utterly stupid, I popped my meds and after about an hour, things started really changing.

To put it in plain words, that night, and the whole next day, I thought this girl right here wasn't gonna live to see her next birthday. And folks, when it comes down to it, it ain't worth it. Caffeine intoxication is very serious. I experienced a whole host of the symptoms: restlessness (even though I was completely exhausted), flushing of the face (only my face was completely drained of color), increased urination (but no strength to move), muscle twitching (felt like I was being electrocuted), a rambling flow of thought and speech (My one roomie said I kept repeating things), irregular or rapid heart beat (It felt like I was having a heart attack), and psychomotor agitation. In this case, which was a larger dose, I had disorientation (I was very confused), disinhibition, and delusions (I kept thinking I was on my bed, when at one point my counselor woke me up because she found me on the floor and I had no memory of that).

So ....no fun. No fun at all. The thing is, besides the fact the caffiene mixed with my meds, I hadn't had a large dose of coffee like that in a very very long time--if at all. (4 shots twice is like 10 cups of coffee at once). I had previously stopped drinking it to berid myself of any headache triggers, but obviously had forgotten that coffee and medication do not mix. DO NOT MIX being the key phrase.

In conclusion, studies have shown that a regular routine of coffee consumption, in the same amount, around the same time every day can actually be beneficial. Irregular caffeine consumption is where the danger lies. (It's even worse if you consume energy drinks which are made purely with just the powdery concentrated caffeine substance...) So if you drink coffee, be aware of its effects. Don't overuse it, and you won't lose it like I did. "To everything there must be balance."


 For you,

Photo credit to Google Images and WikiCommons. Stats and research thanks to: http://www.coffeeresearch.org/market/usa.htm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_caffeine_on_memory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine