Week two and finally getting to me

Well, this is the second week of not having coffee and it’s really getting to me. I’m finally feeling better and I want some coffee, but I’m not going to jump the gun. I think I will take one more week off and try to get back to my Sip of the Week next week, so my apologies...again.

Since I will not be doing a Sip of the Week today, I’m going to post Part II to continue Part I from last week: the effects of too much caffeine on your body.

ABC Health & Wellbeing says that caffeine not only has long-term effects but short-term and some people may experience withdrawal if they go even a day without caffeine.

Let me start by talking about withdrawal. Once someone drinks or takes in a lot of caffeine, they form a tolerance for it, just like if you take a certain medicine everyday, it probably won’t help much later on. Caffeine works the same way, after awhile it just no longer affects people, so they drink more and more so they feel energized, then a day without it for them is very bad. ABC Health & Wellbeing said that “withdrawal symptoms occur because after a day or so without caffeine the brain becomes oversensitive to adenosine, causing blood pressure to drop dramatically.”

Some of the withdrawal symptoms include:
•caffeine headaches
•drowsiness
•irritability
•nausea
•vomiting

Excessive caffeine intake can also cause caffeinism, which is a syndrome resulting from the chronic consumption of caffeine and addiction.

Symptoms of caffeineism include:
•nervous irritability
•tremulousness
•muscle twitching
•sensory disturbances
•tachypnea
•palpitations
•flushing
•arhythmias
•diuresis
•gastrointestinal disturbances

Reading how all the caffeine I drink effects my body really makes me think, is it worth it? Is it worth sacrificing my body for coffee or a Mt. Dew? For those that don’t know me well, I don’t drink alcohol (I know you’re thinking WHAT??!!! You go to OU and don’t drink???!!!) That’s right, I said it. Anyways...I know caffeine is bad, but I would rather drink that than alcohol and alcohol can hurt your body just as bad. Knowing what caffeine does to my body, I do want to cut down, but I don’t want to take it completely out of my diet...

All of this talk about caffeine and coffee is making me really thirsty, so I think I’m going to go grab me a big glass of water. I hope that next week I can get back out and do a real Sip of the Week, I know a few of you reading really enjoy those.

--Tricia