Slashdot Mirror


Caffeine Addicts Get No Additional Perk, Only a Return To Baseline

Dthief writes "Bristol University researchers found that coffee drinkers develop a tolerance to both the anxiety-producing and the stimulating effects of caffeine, meaning that it only brings them back to baseline levels of alertness, not above them. 'Although frequent consumers feel alerted by caffeine, especially by their morning tea, coffee, or other caffeine-containing drink, evidence suggests that this is actually merely the reversal of the fatiguing effects of acute caffeine withdrawal,' wrote the scientists, led by Peter Rogers of Bristol's department of experimental psychology."

5 of 506 comments (clear)

  1. Well, shit by glwtta · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Guess I'm gonna have to get started on meth now.

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  2. Re:Makes sense by Jarjarthejedi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if you stop drinking coffee your body will adapt to waking up on its own with no need for it. I used to drink tons of soda (even more caffeine than coffee) and always had to have a can in the morning to wake up, I stopped drinking it (well aside from about 2 cans worth a week) and suddenly it was significantly easier to get up in the morning, to the point where, going to sleep at the same time, I was waking up an hour earlier and feeling much better.

    Caffeine is not a good way to start your day off, no matter what folgers may say. It's a useful drug for maintaining alertness every once in a while but used daily it reduces your overall alertness, which is bad.

    --
    There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
  3. *GASP* by DIplomatic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't believe it. Next you'll be telling me that smoking a cigarette doesn't actually calm me down, it just reverses the effects of nicotine withdraw!

  4. Re:The truth about caffeine by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We're awash in chemicals all day. Why do we have to vilify certain ones?

    Because different chemicals have different effects, and some of those effects are harmful but may be non-obvious unless they are studied.

    I mean, duh?

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  5. I hate to break this to you, but... by Noren · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sorry to disillusion you, but let me lay out the possibilities:

    A. Your uncle had an incredibly, unbelievably unusual metabolism toward alcohol OR
    B. He had been consistently lying about the amount of his alcohol consumption. This is extremely common behavior in alcoholics. The rest of his family supporting his story and generally being in denial is also very common.