Day 11: World of Caffeine IV
Monday, May 6, 2013
7:30 am
Book Report: Is caffeine good for you? Is caffeine bad for you? No definitive answers!
Video Summary:
No cravings yesterday. Had a very slight headache this morning, but nothing major.
Had strong dreams last night Think that’s a sign I’m getting good REM sleep, which is a good thing.
“World of Caffeine” Last section is about Caffeine and Health: Bottom line: they still don’t know much.
There have been claims that caffeine is very good, and claims that caffeine is very bad for a whole variety of things. Gist of the section is that nothing has been proven.
“Considering that the sensorium and biomass of the human race is virtually awash in caffeine, and has been besotted so for hundreds of years…what do we really know of caffeine…The answer .. is ‘not nearly as much as we need to know’”
It can’t be that bad for you since almost everyone on earth has been significant amounts of it for hundreds of years. Alcohol and nicotine have much more clearcut negative consequences.
Caffeine and children is an interesting topic. Many children have caffeine in their systems at birth.
Does caffeine help you think better? or does it simply make you jittery and error prone?
“Caffeine improves the performance of simple, familiar, routine tasks, and it impairs or fails to affect accomplishment of complex, novel, unpracticed tasks”
Caffeine makes you work more quickly, but not more carefully.
Caffeine dependence and toxicity:
“The most common signs of caffeine intoxication are anxiety or nervousness, insomnia, gastrointestinal disturbances, irregular heartbeat, tremors and psychomotor agitation”
I have felt all of these symptoms at times. Also, I have acid reflux, the third reason I want to quit caffeine. I’m quite sure caffeine is making it worse.
As I’ve mentioned before, the past decade has seen an explosion in the world of caffeine and how caffeine is being delivered to people, especially via energy drinks.