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Like everything else on the internet, there are varying opinions over the topic of 'caffeine' and whether or not it is good/bad for you.
My newly evolved default opinion now-adays is that pretty much anything can be ok for you in moderation, and anything can be bad for you if you overdo and/or abuse it.
I am curious what your opinions on the matter are. The reason I ask is because I've recently discovered the benefit of this nootropic, though in times past I have shunned all 'external enhancement' substances under the pretense that my body was a temple.
~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
http://drzeal.forumotion.com Learn How to PvP!
As with any nutritional related study, there's a whole mess of factors that can play into whether a certain food or drug should be consumed, often leading to very conflictual answers.
In regards to caffeine itself, the two studies I'm most familiar are with it's ability to make one retain water (which is poor for digestion and proper body regulation) and it's neuroprotective abilities (it helps to reduce cognitive decline with moderate use over long periods of time). That's not even covering the short term energy boost it offers. There's probably a myriad of other effects that there can be reported, so much so that I could never make one statement on how much or how often caffeine should be consumed.
This is a common effect seen with any treatment, and why it's a good idea to have quality (and truthful) discussions with a professional physician. I've found medicine to be more like science on an individual basis. The doctor advises the use of a particular treatment, the patient takes the treatments, the patient reports back how the treatment did, the doctor reevaluates the treatment, and the process cycles like that. Everyone's a unique snowflake, and this time in a good way.
For me, water retention is a big deal - my body could use the help more than my brain. So I am trying to avoid it when I can, but that doesn't stop me from having some when I need it.
Nikpack
In regards to caffeine itself, the two studies I'm most familiar are with it's ability to make one retain water (which is poor for digestion and proper body regulation) and it's neuroprotective abilities (it helps to reduce cognitive decline with moderate use over long periods of time). That's not even covering the short term energy boost it offers. There's probably a myriad of other effects that there can be reported, so much so that I could never make one statement on how much or how often caffeine should be consumed.
This is a common effect seen with any treatment, and why it's a good idea to have quality (and truthful) discussions with a professional physician. I've found medicine to be more like science on an individual basis. The doctor advises the use of a particular treatment, the patient takes the treatments, the patient reports back how the treatment did, the doctor reevaluates the treatment, and the process cycles like that. Everyone's a unique snowflake, and this time in a good way.
For me, water retention is a big deal - my body could use the help more than my brain. So I am trying to avoid it when I can, but that doesn't stop me from having some when I need it.
Nikpack
I remember that when I was about 12, I had just graduated to being able to finish an entire can of soda. I felt so grown up.
Then I started wanting to have one can a day. Then slowly, it grew to two cans. Then I realized I wanted more than two cans a day. And I could remember so clearly when I didn't want or need any.
At that point, I realized that that was what addiction was, and it scared me. Because I wanted more, but the wanting felt so totally natural and simple. It didn't feel at all like what I expected addiction to be, and that frightened me.
So I quit caffeine except for special circumstances (e.g. tasting a nice tea). I like living without it and find I don't need it, personally. I like not feeling like I have to have it, I like not spending money on coffee or tea or soda, and I especially like that I'll never be stuck without it and going through withdrawal.
I think you are ultimately right that everything is fine in moderation. I would just take care to remember that caffeine is addictive, so it may (for some people) be difficult to have in moderation.
-- Player of Eyuve
Then I started wanting to have one can a day. Then slowly, it grew to two cans. Then I realized I wanted more than two cans a day. And I could remember so clearly when I didn't want or need any.
At that point, I realized that that was what addiction was, and it scared me. Because I wanted more, but the wanting felt so totally natural and simple. It didn't feel at all like what I expected addiction to be, and that frightened me.
So I quit caffeine except for special circumstances (e.g. tasting a nice tea). I like living without it and find I don't need it, personally. I like not feeling like I have to have it, I like not spending money on coffee or tea or soda, and I especially like that I'll never be stuck without it and going through withdrawal.
I think you are ultimately right that everything is fine in moderation. I would just take care to remember that caffeine is addictive, so it may (for some people) be difficult to have in moderation.
-- Player of Eyuve
In the long-term, caffeine interferes with your brain's ability to function off of its natural schedule of dopamine (or so the interwebs once told me) and constricts the blood vessels in the brain. In stupider terms that I can understand, everyone I know who has been drinking coffee for years has a headache by mid-day if they don't have a cup of joe in the morning.
It's an addiction, but it's a fairly benign one in my opinion, especially compared to tobacco and alcohol, or even compared to soda and energy drinks. I only drink it once every couple weeks when I had a real crappy night of sleep, because like Aleph-One, I don't like the thought of my body coming to rely on an external substance. I'm the boss, body, not you, you'll day as I say and like it!
It's an addiction, but it's a fairly benign one in my opinion, especially compared to tobacco and alcohol, or even compared to soda and energy drinks. I only drink it once every couple weeks when I had a real crappy night of sleep, because like Aleph-One, I don't like the thought of my body coming to rely on an external substance. I'm the boss, body, not you, you'll day as I say and like it!
>>I don't like the thought of my body coming to rely on an external substance.
This is basically my thoughts on the issue. I've been limiting myself to one 5-hour energy a week :P
~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
http://drzeal.forumotion.com Learn How to PvP!
This is basically my thoughts on the issue. I've been limiting myself to one 5-hour energy a week :P
~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
http://drzeal.forumotion.com Learn How to PvP!
>>> I don't like the thought of my body coming to rely on an external substance.
Technically, this is impossible, as we need to get energy precisely in this manner. Period. Since I really want to be pedantic about things, even an improperly balanced diet of "non-drugs" can be both "addictive" and "self destructive."
"Moderation in all things, including Moderation."
Technically, this is impossible, as we need to get energy precisely in this manner. Period. Since I really want to be pedantic about things, even an improperly balanced diet of "non-drugs" can be both "addictive" and "self destructive."
"Moderation in all things, including Moderation."
>>Moderation in all things, including Moderation.
I like that :)
~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
http://drzeal.forumotion.com Learn How to PvP!
I like that :)
~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
http://drzeal.forumotion.com Learn How to PvP!
>> Then I started wanting to have one can a day. Then slowly, it grew to two cans. Then I realized I wanted more than two cans a day. And I could remember so clearly when I didn't want or need any.
That's very different from me - I know I'm physically addicted to caffeine, but I've never felt any compulsion to seek it out. The only way I know that's it's been a while since I've had any is because I start getting the headaches. I have to monitor my caffeine intake, but in the unhealthy way - to avoid accidentally slipping into withdrawal and then losing my addiction. The times when I need the positive effects of caffeine come up too often in my life right now, and the negative effects of caffeine I consider to be too minor to worry about, so it doesn't make sense to suffer through the headaches when I know a couple days from then I'm going to need the caffeine to get through another 30 hour work marathon, or to stay functional for a week with only a few hours of sleep each night.
That's very different from me - I know I'm physically addicted to caffeine, but I've never felt any compulsion to seek it out. The only way I know that's it's been a while since I've had any is because I start getting the headaches. I have to monitor my caffeine intake, but in the unhealthy way - to avoid accidentally slipping into withdrawal and then losing my addiction. The times when I need the positive effects of caffeine come up too often in my life right now, and the negative effects of caffeine I consider to be too minor to worry about, so it doesn't make sense to suffer through the headaches when I know a couple days from then I'm going to need the caffeine to get through another 30 hour work marathon, or to stay functional for a week with only a few hours of sleep each night.
>>That's very different from me - I know I'm physically addicted to caffeine, but I've never felt any compulsion to seek it out.
That was the scary thing for me. I didn't feel compelled. I just found myself at the fridge more often. That's what I meant about it feeling "natural."
Granted I'm sure it's different for different people and perhaps you wouldn't experience it the above way either. I was just clarifying my own feeling about it.
>>it doesn't make sense to suffer through the headaches when I know a couple days from then I'm going to need the caffeine to get through another 30 hour work marathon,
It certainly sounds like you need it, but I can't say I envy your work situation...
-- Player of Eyuve
That was the scary thing for me. I didn't feel compelled. I just found myself at the fridge more often. That's what I meant about it feeling "natural."
Granted I'm sure it's different for different people and perhaps you wouldn't experience it the above way either. I was just clarifying my own feeling about it.
>>it doesn't make sense to suffer through the headaches when I know a couple days from then I'm going to need the caffeine to get through another 30 hour work marathon,
It certainly sounds like you need it, but I can't say I envy your work situation...
-- Player of Eyuve
>>Technically, this is impossible, as we need to get energy precisely in this manner. Period. Since I really want to be pedantic about things, even an improperly balanced diet of "non-drugs" can be both "addictive" and "self destructive."
If we want to be REALLY pedantic, we would include oxygen on this list as well, ergo drowning yourself in a pool is the only wait to absolutely not rely of external substances.
I think you know what I meant!
If we want to be REALLY pedantic, we would include oxygen on this list as well, ergo drowning yourself in a pool is the only wait to absolutely not rely of external substances.
I think you know what I meant!
>>>I think you know what I meant!
Almost certainly, but I inferred an arbitrary distinction between substances like caffeine, nicotine, and other narcotic substances and things like fat, [source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/28/fatty.foods.brain/index.html] (which is essentially impossible to avoid) which promote what I consider to be an inaccurate representation of both human physiology and the complex interaction between "mind" and "body" that becomes the alchmical process through which the "miracle" of "identity" is born.
TL:DR
We're all impulsive sloshy bags of meat, nutrients, protein chains, etc. Our systems are constantly effected by both environment (social and physical) and diet, and these influences have a significant impact on cognitive processes that most people fail to recognize. We seem to have especially large blind spots to this phenomenon where it arguably matters most, which is in analyzing our own motivations and behaviors.
Almost certainly, but I inferred an arbitrary distinction between substances like caffeine, nicotine, and other narcotic substances and things like fat, [source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/28/fatty.foods.brain/index.html] (which is essentially impossible to avoid) which promote what I consider to be an inaccurate representation of both human physiology and the complex interaction between "mind" and "body" that becomes the alchmical process through which the "miracle" of "identity" is born.
TL:DR
We're all impulsive sloshy bags of meat, nutrients, protein chains, etc. Our systems are constantly effected by both environment (social and physical) and diet, and these influences have a significant impact on cognitive processes that most people fail to recognize. We seem to have especially large blind spots to this phenomenon where it arguably matters most, which is in analyzing our own motivations and behaviors.
Some pharmacies in my neighborhood now sell caffeine suppositories because the community has enough religious people who fast yet apparently also don't want to be low-energy during their prayers, and evidently that entry point doesn't violate any "do not eat or drink" rules.
What I'm trying to say is that anyone trying to sound impressive due to their caffeine intake will not beat these individuals.
What I'm trying to say is that anyone trying to sound impressive due to their caffeine intake will not beat these individuals.
>now sell caffeine suppositories
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SQUICK
Weapons for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.org/wiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
Combat Balance List:
http://tinyurl.com/DRBalance
....
....
SQUICK
Weapons for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.org/wiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
Combat Balance List:
http://tinyurl.com/DRBalance
A study was done on elite cyclists doing maximal exercise tests on stationary bikes. It takes around 200 milligrams of caffeine to elicit a significant performance improvement. Obviously the mental focus boost from the great and wonderful C can be observed with considerably less. I also recall reading that 450 - 550 mg is considered a moderate total daily intake (your mileage may vary).
I don't have caffiene a lot but it's in my migraine medicine and when I get a particularly severe one, I drink a can of soda with it, at the advice of my doctor. The effects on the blood vessels from drinking a can of soda with it when I take it makes me want to stab my eyes out significantly less than when I don't have one. It still sucks, but it subsides a lot faster.
Other than this I maybe have 1 caffienated thing every 2 weeks or so. I'm a lemonade kind of guy mostly.
- Starlear -
Other than this I maybe have 1 caffienated thing every 2 weeks or so. I'm a lemonade kind of guy mostly.
- Starlear -
