Too Much Coffee

As many of us have long suspected it would, science has now burst the bubble of caffeine as a stimulant. Researchers in the UK and Germany have demonstrated that caffeine has no net benefit for alertness or value as a psychostimulant. Consuming caffeine only causes one to become dependent upon the drug itself, caffeine abstinence then actually lowers alertness and drinking coffee only brings one back to the baseline that one would have experienced if one had never had any caffeine at all. What's more, while coffee-induced anxiety and headache may be relieved by drinking copious amounts of coffee, they are actually the result of caffeine indulgence in the first place. Read the abstract of the article in Neuropsychopharmacology here.

National Geographic published an article in 2005 demonstrating this. The alertness was demonstrated by brain scans which showed the activity in particular areas. The coffee heads who had not had their shot basically had a head full of nothing. It's like avoiding a hangover by staying pissed.

Seems a shame they did not include any physical/ locomotive/ endurance tests as caffeine is a stimulant for sure, they only surveyed anxiety, alertness, and headaches. An awful lot of sports performance research has been done of caffeine.

I still dont understand why this is relevant to us

dr.chris wrote:I still dont understand why this is relevant to us

I agree. I wonder where they found their high caffeine consumers.? They say they abstained from caffeine for 16 hours before the tests. Now I consider myself a moderate consumer of caffeine and nothing…., absolutely nothing, could keep me from my coffee for 16 hours! If I was chained to a wall to meet this requirement I doubt I would be in any state, after 16 hours abstinence, to brew the coffee I so craved let alone determine my alertness level compared to some supposed memory of a previous state.

Imagine how much more unreliable the results would be for the average member of TMC. I am lucky in that I am one of the few members who is not addicted to caffeine.

I just spent 5 days in the hospital. The coffee was so disgusting that I didn't even try it after the first day. I just drank water the whole time I was there and when I got home I was surprised that I didn't even crave a cup and didn't turn my machine on for another two days.

I guess I'd better turn in my TMC badge.

Maybe I should note that I had/have acute gastroenteritis/ulcer (probably Helicobacter pylori, but the microbiology lab results aren't in yet). Absolutely nothing causes me as much grief (stomach-wise) as coffee, so perhaps the above isn't quite as surprising as it seems.

bruceb wrote:I just spent 5 days in the hospital. The coffee was so disgusting that I didn't even try it after the first day. I just drank water the whole time I was there and when I got home I was surprised that I didn't even crave a cup and didn't turn my machine on for another two days.

I guess I'd better turn in my TMC badge.

Maybe I should note that I had/have acute gastroenteritis/ulcer (probably Helicobacter pylori, but the microbiology lab results aren't in yet). Absolutely nothing causes me as much grief (stomach-wise) as coffee, so perhaps the above isn't quite as surprising as it seems.

Sorry to hear that Bruce. I feel bad for joking about this in my post now. I hope you are soon back to your previous state of at least tolerating espresso.

I suggest you hang onto your TMC badge for now and hope that the cause is soon identified and treated to allow you to enjoy coffee in whatever quantity and form you desire.

bruceb wrote:. Absolutely nothing causes me as much grief (stomach-wise) as coffee, so perhaps the above isn't quite as surprising as it seems.

Coffee causes you stomach pain?

Ha! It's "funny", 'cos I'm very little tolerant with the caffeine (causes me dizzy) and I don't know why I still drink coffee and have the mega-coffee setup in my home.

GreenBean wrote:Sorry to hear that Bruce. I feel bad for joking about this in my post now. I hope you are soon back to your previous state of at least tolerating espresso.

No need to feel bad, GB. I am enjoying my one or two shots all the more these days. Actually, I could probably drink more since I'm taking 80mg pantoprazol daily, which all but shuts down the proton pumps in the stomach, but I don't really feel the desire at the moment.

The last couple of days I made myself (and my better half) an iced espresso with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

BTW, I wasn't in the hospital for the stomach, the docs there noticed me cringe when I sat up and asked what that was all about. I told them about the pain, which I thought was due to a hiatus hernia and they insisted I swallow a hose and lo-and-behold, my stomach looked like downtown Baghdad. The strange thing is that I had the same pain a few months ago and gastroscopy didn't show anything at all...or the operator forgot to wear his glasses.

bruceb wrote:.... lo-and-behold, my stomach looked like downtown Baghdad....

Well I hope that both your stomach and Baghdad are soon restored to their former glory.

I gotta say, i've never suffered from stomach pain (and that's surprising, considering the amount of coffee i drink )

However, something i have noticed recently is a sharp pain in what i presume is my kidneys after an especially heavy caffeine binge; either a day's heavy cupping or too many cups of filter after a heavy night.

Oh, hang on, wait a minute.... probably the booze talking on the latter...

Anyway, anyone ever get the kidney-stab?

J