Logic 1: Caffeine is harmless

            Caffeine is harmless. It is actually an important part of daily life and provides no real side effects and is not stored in your body. It is like vitamins that give you a little boost for your day, plus it makes life and mouth happy. So drink and enjoy as much caffeine as you want whenever you like without fear. If, for some odd reason, you decide to quit your valuable nutrition of caffeine, go ahead and stop cold turkey, no big deal. 

Caffeine is just a natural byproduct that is in things like coffee and coke.

            WRONG: It is a drug that can be natural (in leaves and seeds of some plants) or produced artificially and added to some products. It is called a drug because in the central nervous system (spinal cord and brain) it causes stimulation that can boost energy and mood for a short time.

            WRONG: “Caffeine is in tea, coffee, chocolate, many soft drinks, and pain relievers and other over the counter medications” It is also in energy drinks like SoBe and Red bull and many other pump your day up beverages.

Caffeine does not really do much besides give a quick pick me up during days that seem to never end and only has minor side effects. So indulge whenever.

            WRONG: Caffeine is a diuretic which may cause dehydration during hot weather or exercise. It may also cause the lose of calcium from bones, aggravate heart conditions, and interfere or react with medications or supplements.

WRONG: The more caffeine the higher the anxiety. Greater doses are also known for causing dizziness, headaches and jitters to occur.

WRONG: 200-300 mg of caffeine to be considered safe

Caffeine addiction and dependence is just a joke or a question of life style and cannot be considered a real mental disease.

            WRONG: As little as 100mg of caffeine can cause dependence having withdrawal symptoms as minor as headaches, tiredness, and grouchy irritability.

Calculate your caffeine intake: www.caffeineawareness.org/calcu.php

Calculate how much caffeine would kill you: www.energyfeind.com/death-by-caffeine

The reason I even began looking into caffeine is because of my husband. You see his father just was diagnosed with an aortic aneurism and was facing surgery. His dad’ Doc said it was a genetic thing, which of course freaked my husband out. He knew that his dad has high blood pressure and poor health habits. My husband also knows that the amount of Mountain Dew that he drinks is not healthy and can affect blood pressure which in turns could aggravate weak spots in veins. It’s good to know he wants to live.

            During out pre bed conversation he vowed to quit his mountain dew drinking, thinking nothing of it. He made it through the day but by the evening his leg was hurting and through the night he tossed and turned and shuddered and rocked in pain in his leg. The discomfort lasted till he had some root beer which I had for myself. He thought it was caffeine free, I know from research that the particular brand I had did in fact contain caffeine. He went back to drinking the caffeinated beverages just in lesser quantities.

            He ended up talking to another healthcare professional and then to a doctor. One said quitting caffeine cold turkey was dangerous because the addiction withdrawal could be comparative to heroine. The doctor said something about caffeine sensitivity that breeds continued use, dependency, overdose and even poisoning…Caffeine poisoning!!! Apparently this is sort of like what happens with alcoholics. The doctor said to wait till summer is over because of the heat headaches my husband had a history of having pre-caffeine era. I thought that was interesting and like any good student I hit the net for info.

 What I found was shocking and yet simply obvious and made sense with the knowledge I already had on hand. The most interesting tidbit that I thought I would share has to do with the symptoms possible. There was a study funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse with info posted in a news article on the John Hopkins medicine website.  “In their review, the researchers identified 57 experimental studies and nine survey studies on caffeine withdrawal, and examined each to assess the validity of the reported findings.  The researchers identified five clusters of common withdrawal symptoms: headache; fatigue or drowsiness; dysphoric mood including depression and irritability; difficulty concentrating; and flu-like symptoms of nausea, vomiting and muscle pain or stiffness.  In experimental studies, 50 percent of people experienced headache and 13 percent had clinically significant distress or functional impairment -- for example, severe headache and other symptoms incompatible with working.  Typically, onset of symptoms occurred 12 to 24 hours after stopping caffeine, with peak intensity between one and two days, and for a duration of two to nine days.  In general, the incidence or severity of symptoms increased with increases in daily dose, but abstinence from doses as low as 100 milligrams per day, or about one small cup of coffee, also produced symptoms. The research also showed that avoidance of caffeine withdrawal symptoms motivates regular use of caffeine.  For example, the satisfying feelings and perceived benefits that many coffee users experience from their morning coffee appear to be a simple reversal of the negative effects of caffeine withdrawal after overnight abstinence.But there is good news for those wishing to quit caffeine: A simple, stepwise approach can often eliminate the need for a "fix" without suffering the most severe withdrawal symptoms."We teach a systematic method of gradually reducing caffeine consumption over time by substituting decaffeinated or non-caffeinated products.  Using such a method allows people to reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms," says Griffiths.According to the report, caffeine is the most widely used behaviorally active drug in the world.  In North America, 80 percent to 90 percent of adults report regular use of caffeine.  Average daily intake of caffeine among caffeine consumers in the United States is about 280 milligrams, or about one to two mugs of coffee or three to five bottles of soft drink, with higher intakes estimated in some European countries.  In the United States, coffee and soft drinks are the most common sources of caffeine, with almost half of caffeine consumers ingesting caffeine from multiple sources, including tea.”

Overall, many people blindly indulge in multiple caffeinated drinks and even meals without realizing that they are catering to an addiction. Many of us use caffeine all the time without a second thought and for most it’s no big deal. But people cannot keep on in ignorance and damage there lives. So, people when you are heading into finals month or into days that seem not to have enough hours, know that your increased junk food and caffeine will only make the anxiety worse and the days after less enjoyable.

Drink water or at least gets some rest….being tired is your body’s way of saying SLEEP!

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/09_29_04.html

www.kidshealth.org?teen/food_fitness/nutrtion/caffeine.html