The Caffeine Wake-Up Call
by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
With so much controversy surrounding caffeine these days, Tom and I decided to do our own experiment to see what effects caffeine might be having on our bodies, our moods and the way we feel.
So for three months, we filled our cups with caffeine coffee (the regular stuff) - consuming the coffee as we would normally during the day, generally a cup in the morning and an occasional evening cup to unwind. Unwind? Well, we didn't do much of that as our three-month experiment progressed BUT we really didn't take note of such until we started feeling panicky. Caffeine has been known to contribute to panic attacks and that in itself should be enough to wean most of us from caffeine.
Nonetheless, we stuck with our three month experiment, then switched to decaffeinated coffee. We expected the headaches but other than that, we had little difficultly weaning ourselves from the caffeine. It wasn't until a few weeks later when we discovered the uncomfortable impact of caffeine.
We were traveling home late one evening and stopped off to get Tom a bite to eat and a coffee for me. The only coffee available was caffeine based, so I poured a tall cup, added a few packs of Splenda, a bit of powdered creamer and we hit the road. By the time that we arrived home, my heart was racing out of my body. My temples throbbed and I felt like I needed a long tail so I could chase it in a circle. And I felt like that for several hours into the sleepless night. Seattle had nothing on me.
My immediate thought was 'it's the caffeine' but after the symptoms subsided, I forgot about the incident until a few days later when we discovered we were out of coffee. So I grabbed the last packet of caffeine based coffee, did a bit of brewing and poured out a cup. Tom decided to forego (wise man, my Tom). Within the hour, those familiar caffeine-related symptoms were triggered and I went spiraling off into never-never land. It was a scary, terrible ride - one that I never care to repeat. At this point, I was dead-certain that it was the caffeine.
As Tom and I discussed our caffeine adventure, we decided that caffeine had made both of us feel on edge, in-a-panic, wired, sleepless, red-eyed (due to lack of sleep), irritable, and unsettled. If this sounds familiar, try going decaf to see if you experience positive changes. Although caffeine has been connected to rendering healthy effects, it has also been connected to rendering unhealthy effects.
With all the caffeine infused drinks and beverages on the market these days, no wonder so many of us have the jitters. If you found this article interesting, you may also like this Diet Bites article.
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