If it wasn’t for the coffee, I’d have no identifiable personality whatsoever
David Letterman
It’s the morning. Your alarm just got off. You tap around looking for your phone (or any other source responsible for waking you) trying to make the noise stop. It could take a couple of snooze but eventually, you have to get up. Depending how long it took you to get out of bed, you might have time to stumble to the kitchen make yourself some coffee, or you rush out to work but still take the time to stop by a coffee shop on the way. Because no matter how late you are, there is just no way you can actually start your day without a cuppa. (if not a big fan of coffee and more a tea person yourself, replace “coffee” by “tea”, story will still be accurate).
In the Western cultures, coffee is a golden energy mine. It gives you a boost and makes your mind clearer. It motivates you and gets you through Mondays. But it can also make your heart beats way too fast, increasing your blood pressure, and give you actual anxiety crisis. It’s all about proportion and it is a fine line we’ve all crossed one day, swearing we’ll never do it again, and then crossed again.
Caffeine, the wakey-wakey component in coffee, is considered to be the most commonly used psychoactive drug in the world. Yup, you read it right: “drug”. Not as in “LSD-drug”, but as in “will-affect-your-nervous-system-drug”. It acts as a central nervous system stimulant: when it reaches your brain, you tend to feel more alert, less tired, and more focus. But too much of it can over stimulate the brain and create confusion and give you headaches… And like most “drugs”, caffeine can become addictive. Addictive substances need to meet at least three of the following criteria (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition - DSM-IV):
tolerance
substance-specific withdrawal syndrome
substance often taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than expected
persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control use
a great deal of time spent in activities necessary to obtain, use, or recover from the effects of the substance
important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced because of the substance; and/or
use continued despite knowledge of a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance.
Hmm… Pretty sure caffeine meets at least three of those criteria for me! Thing is with coffee and caffeine, it is really person-dependent. We all have a very personal relationship to coffee, and this will determine whether we are addicted to/dependent on caffeine or not.
However, a recent study seems to bring hope to all of us coffee-dependent individuals: the mere thought of coffee seems to be enough to increase your arousal, i.e. your state of awake-ness. The association between coffee and arousal, ambition and focus is so strong in our Western cultures that thinking about coffee is enough to make us more focus. Crazy, is it not? This effect was not found when thinking about tea, which contains a lower level of caffeine and is rarely associated with an energy boost, or with people from Eastern cultures. Further work needs to be down to fully grasp the effect of thinking about coffee vs drinking coffee, but it’s a great start!
I’ve kind of noticed this before: I’m seating in front of my computer, after lunch and the coma post-prandial just hits me (you know that time after you had food, when you feel very sleepy and day-dream about napping?). It is time for coffee. I get up and head towards our staff kitchen and I’m not all that tired anymore. Now there is probably an interaction of effects here: first, moving and standing up (basically taking a break) has been shown to wake you up a bit and reduce fatigue; second, I am thinking about that nice cup of coffee I’m about to have. Fair enough, I fully acknowledge the lack of data and recognise it can all be in my head. But more than once, when reaching the staff kitchen, I noticed I end up making myself tea over coffee (usually after 4pm when I’m unconsciously considering whether it is too late for coffee or not). Funny how the brain works...
Coffee is so embedded in our cultures, apparently the type of coffee you like could be linked to your personality! Hear me out: I do not give actual credit to this and proper research needs to be done on this, but the mere fact that it’s a popular belief is revealing enough to be mentioned. You are what coffee you drink! The same way you are what you eat... but that’s a story for another day.
A nice cup of coffee is like a great hug: it warms you up, it triggers the release of feel-good hormones in your brain, it wakes you up and gives you the motivation to face the day and whatever it throws at you. However, coffee is a very peculiar friend – too much of it and it will make you pay by sending your heart rate through the roof, giving you anxiety, disturbing your guts, gives you heartburn, and many other unpleasant side effects. Coffee is great, but as with any stimulant, moderation is key. If you can’t help having 4+ cup of coffee a day, trick yourself: think about the cup of coffee you previously had, imagine you still have it in front of you, go for a walk around your office/open/space/working space. Have a considerate friend that will get you decaf instead of caffeinated coffee (probably works best if you don’t know it’s decaf – and no, with progress in food science you can’t always tell it’s decaf).
Coffee is life, but any excess is dangerous.
Anyone fancy a cuppa?
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