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Caffeine Good For Long-Term Memory
Keith Gabryelski writes "an article entitled "Caffeine Causes Changes In Brain Cells" at Planet Rx " So it makes your brain get bigger while it makes your testicles get smaller. I guess that proves that matter can't be created or destroyed.
Lumps?!!!
Crap, I just brewed a pot of Swiss Chocolate Almond, and now I'm feeling myself for lumps.
Wanna know the mystical secrets of caffiene? Come check out JavaScopes.
The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk
The House Between - Original Sci-Fi Series
It's ESPRESSO, not expresso. Expresso isn't even a real drink. Get it right!
ESPRESSO
ESPRESSO
ESPRESSO
ESPRESSO
ESPRESSO
ESPRESSO!!!
(Hmmm. Maybe I've had one too many cuppacinos....)
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
With all this research into the beneficial nature of caffeine, I'm surprised that the vitamin nuts haven't gone all bozo. Every time someone announces a study that shows that some off-the-shelf drug store quackery is good at something-or-other, about 50 people write full length novels on the wonders of the stuff, GNC turns a tidy profit, and Michael Jordan does TV spots hawking the extra-overpriced blister pack'd brand.
I'm glad this hasn't been the fate of caffeine. It keeps me awake and that's all I ask. But it doesn't stop there. Through the magik of Slashdot, I found out that not only does it increase my tolerance to ionizing radiation, but it makes me smarter.
Good timing, guys. I have an exam at 4pm and I'm cramming now. To the coffee stand for a double latte!
maybe so .. but if it can offset any problems that you may have as far as concentration or long time interest in a particular subject, I say why not ?? I started drinking coffee in college. Mostly to keep up with the memorization. I found that drinking it helped me to concentrate longer and get more out of the class. Without it, It would have been much harder. Any advantage in this "Bigger Better Faster More!" country of ours is almost at this point mandatory. My guess is that some people dont need this stimulus.. and that might explain why they get tired.. or out of it when they drink coffee. Most likely they already have the stimulus that the rest of us lack... probably resulting in more of a certain chemical in the brain... I know that my seritonin levels are probably low.. perhaps this helps that...
Not really. What the researchers were referring to was a different chemical which introduces calcium to the cell much faster, and in a different way. While a very high level of caffeine is probably a bad idea (but lots of fun), it is improbable that one would reach such a high concentration in his/her brain that it would cause brain cells to collapse(if that is even possible through caffeine). The more important question here is the effect that the increased dendrite "forest" would have on memory/iq/etc. Since this is being discussed in so many other threads, I won't go into it here.
The second derivative of f(x) is:18x-sinx*cot4x-5 +2cosx*(-4-4cot(4x-5)^2-8sinx*cot4x-5*-4-4cot(4x-5 )^2
It said that the results were inconclusive, and that more research needs to be done.
duh.
The only tempting thing it did say was that it lengthened the dendrites, but... is that good or bad? it also said the dendrites collapse if grown too quickly. ooopps.
music - http://www.subatomicglue.com
oz, gallon, doublequart.....
WHEN will you guys learn how to use SI, just as the rest of the world (Europe!)
FWIW, I drink 2 litres of coffee a day.
> so what does it matter if I can remember their names or not?
And what does it matter what their names are when they don't come when you call for them, anyway
you mean,
--snip--
affeine can cause breast tenderness and lumps, if the breast is actually visible.
My comment is off-topic, yet the poster I was replying to wasn't? I was continuing the thread, for crying out loud!
If I had said something like "Drink Pepsi, instead - you moron!", that would have been off-topic. However, what I did was give a solution to another's problem - that of getting caffiene in milk.
Maybe I should have mentioned the word caffiene? Would that have saved it?
I swear, many times I think moderators just have way too many points and not enough time on thier hands (that, and I think there is some kind of conspiracy against me to not be moderated up, for whatever reason).
Watch, this will be moderated down to "off-topic" - at least I can agree with that, though!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
I don't know if I'm a genetic freak or what, but caffeine really doesn't have a noticeable effect on me at all.
:)
I do notice, that if I go an entire day without having any, I'll get a headache at about 3 p.m. so I generally will have at least one coke with lunch or something.
Yes, I know this is a sign of addiction.
However, it never makes me feel "wired" and I don't feel tired if I don't have it. I can drink a liter of Pepsi and go straight to bed with no trouble, either. I don't consume an abnormally large amount either, during a typical day, I'll probably have 2 cans of Coke/Pepsi at work, and maybe another one with lunch, that's it. It doesn't bother me to have none during the day, if anything, the sugar in a non-caffeinated soda makes me feel just as good as a caffeinated one.
If it matters, I'm fairly "resistant" to most drugs I've used. I rarely get hangovers, I recover from general anesthesia very quickly with no sickness, and my dentist now uses nitrous oxide on me because the novocaine doesn't numb me.
The real downside is that I usually wind up taking about twice the "reccomended" dosage of any over-the-counter drug, so it actually has some effect on me.
To put this back on topic, is there anyone else who doesn't get any kick from caffeine? Even Vivarin or those bizarre guarana drinks don't do much to affect me either way.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. --Robert A. Heinlein
But let's start explaining the intricacies(sp?) of quantum physiscs or paleantology and I'm there.
I'm as far as Tao of Pooh and The Dancing Wu Li Masters (Zukav), Gödel, Escher, Bach,
Fermat's Enigma (Singh)...
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Girls make your brain get smaller and certain other parts get bigger.
And after a withdrawal and recovery period, the brain grows back a little, and we suddenly wonder: "What the hell was I thinking?!" We utter oaths to forsake them forever, but it is just as empty a bluff as you'll hear from a recoving heroin or nicotine addict.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Studies have also shown that when you learn while affected by a mind-altering substance, you remember those things better when also on that same substance. (The study I read was actually conducted with caffeine as the substance, and it was from a suitemate's psychology book, im afraid I cant get the name of it). So... If you have an early class and always drink a cup of coffee while there, you better have one when you take the final, even if its at 2 in the afternoon.
If we are going to raise the issue of matter versus energy, can any of you actually tell me what matter and energy are? Can you proove to me that they do not consist of the same "stuff" or that this stuff is anything? I am inviting spam here, but unless I am mistaken (and I will consult the king of all experts on the subject if this gets responded to) YOU ARE ALL FULL OF IT, and have no idea what you are talking about. If we were talking about cars and airplanes, and calling them matter and energy, and we took apart the airplane, and the car, mixed up the parts, and built some new contraptions (which could perform the same tasks as the original car and airplane) would this ilucidate the issue a little better for you? Matter, energy... what do these words mean? What makes you think any of it WANTS TO BE DESTROYED??
2L is just under a half gallon. That's like 21 inch monitors with 19.2" viewable. It just sucks.
"My car gets 1,300 furlongs per firkin of gas..."
I've used MI/X and Exceed, but I actually prefer X-Win32 from StarNet. I've found it to be very reliable. When running in a single window mode, I also enjoy the full screen mode. It doesn't have that pesky windoze title bar at the top. I've also heard that there may be a crack available at: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/1088/ , but I wouldn't know anything about that. ;)
it is now. it used to be free -- no longer tho. some old copies are still floating around - download while you can.
At a previous super bowl party about 5 years ago I had 25 cans of pepsi in about a 6 hour timespan another guy that was there had 23. Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night.
Hmm.. Caffeine Good For Long-Term Memory ?
That's funny, because according to the article: "The implications for long-term memory and learning are not yet clear." Interjecting your bias into a story like this might seem trivial and make for a good shrinking testical joke, but it's very bad journalism.
Oh well, 'nother warez session ;-). Anybody got an url for the old version?
Cmdr. Taco is reporting his personal experience with caffeine, YMMV
For the ADD/ADHD person the non-standard (not sub-standard) levels of these are seen through inability to focus and/or inappropriate behavior. Generally 4 approaches are used to "normalize" the person's existence. (1) medication (perferably short term) to provide the chemical support while other coping skills are acquired, (2, 3) adjustments to exercise and dietary routines, and (3) basic meditation skills. (Read up on things like trancendentalism and shamanism. These will not attempt to replace your preferred religeous system but will make your experience of it more meaningful to you.)
Still, nothing beats going off your meds for a weekend of rock concerts and video games!
--
My office has been taken over by iPod people.
..makes your testicles get smaller.
This can't be good. I think I'll stop drinking coffeinated beverages until I have children.
.. although it would be nice with a larger brain. Hmm..
*sigh* What a difficult choice..
>So it makes your brain get bigger while it makes your testicles get smaller.
It'd be interesting to see what everyone would choose if they had to pick one or the other. Rob- How about a poll?
Cynic
kynik@gh0st.net
fire.gh0st.net/napalm/
Time to start munchin' on my cases of Penguin Peppermints that just came in the mail... mmm... minty caffinated goodness...
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Nothing helps you through one of those monster 30-hour CS projects like a big 64oz sitting on your desk! I don't know if it was the caffeine helping me concentrate or the fact that I had to stop every hour to take a piss, but I did find a correlation between the number of doublequarts I went through and my resulting grade on the project. For the record, my record was 192 oz in 25 hours; if anyone else has beaten that I'd like to hear about it. 8}
--
Win98 sux without these 1337 toolz !!
I suppose then, if you're like me, and you program alot, and you drink alot of coffee, and you don't want children, that everything will work out just fine. Several pots of coffee a day keeps everything working smoothly. For instance, I know for a fact that one of my most festering bugs in my older tcp socket setups is in line 562 of con_build.c ....now, if I could just remember how I was told to properly fix it, I could knock out about 25 lines of error checking code. Of course, then I wouldn't be able to remember what line the bug was on, cause it would change, and then I'd just be lost all over again huh? Oh well, I don't suppose I'll ever pick up any women sitting in front of this computer anyhow, so what does it matter if I can remember thier names or not?
... but what if you're a chick?
Charlie
-- .sig files go when they die?
Child: Mommy, where do
Mother: HELL! Straight to hell!
I've never been the same since.
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
Symptoms, no; they're different disorders (although they are differential diagnoses of each other).
/. does research in this field; I'm merely an educated layperson.
What has been suggested quite recently in clinical research is that ADHD/ADD as a child or juvenile increases the risk of developing bipolar disorder later in life (bear in mind that the average time of diagnosis for bipolar disorder is in one's late 20's).
One could make arguments as to whether there is a shared cause or that the former causes the latter through some biochemical or even through a social mechanism. Nobody knows what causes either ADD/ADHD or bipolar disorder; it's even possible that there are multiple possible causes producing the same symptomology.
I used to favour the explanation that there was a genetic component to all cases of bipolar disorder; however, right now I would have to demur. Perhaps someone on
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--
There is no premature anti-fascism. -Ernest Hemingway
It helps your long term memory, it protects you from radiation! It's the wonder drug that works wonders! It makes the little problem with the little things seem pretty much insignificant, does't it?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I wonder how caffeine should then theoretically affect depressives. Since biological depression is related to excessive reuptake of serotonin, I would imagine that there should be some sort of effect, although perhaps its either too minimal or too long-term to be noticeable.
Americans should be geniuses when it comes to recall!!! I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but in the ingredients to regular pepsi, caffiene actully comes before the flavoring. I shouln't ever forget anything, ever, mwahaha.
They are, it's jut misused. Find an average american teen, ask them the plot of 90210 (or whatever the latest lame teen drama is) from the first episode on. You get a perfect replay. Pick a sports guy, ask them the batting average of every american league player in 1983, no problem. Americans remember all kinds of arcane things.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
This makes sense to me; I'm not ADHD (that I know of), but when I pop some aderol (sp?) I'm an unstoppable coding machine.
However, it never makes me feel "wired" and I don't feel tired if I don't have it. I can drink a liter of Pepsi and go straight to bed with no trouble, either. I don't consume an abnormally large amount either, during a typical day, I'll probably have 2 cans of Coke/Pepsi at work, and maybe another one with lunch, that's it. It doesn't bother me to have none during the day, if anything, the sugar in a non-caffeinated soda makes me feel just as good as a caffeinated one.
This happens to me on a 6 month cycle. So I go off caffeine, drink nothing but water for a month, and then get back on caffeine. BLAMMO! One can of surge will wire me all weekend!!!
Caffeine is THE most tolerable drug, to better phrase that, most people will build up a huge tolerance to caffeine very quickly, hence needing more and more for the same affect. So cyclicle intake can reduce the amount of caffeine you need to get a buzz.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
"If a man is alone in the forest and says something and there is no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?"
Let me check with my girlfriend and get back to you on that.
For a substance that's supposed to be benign, it certainly does a lot. As well as whatever this lot are claiming, it puts ADHD people to sleep (it works in reverse for them), it triggers severe mood swings in Bipolar folk, and it deludes Urban Legend people into thinking Coke contains, well, coke. :)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Exceed rips the shit out of any other X Server on Windows NT/2000.
Once you actually try out Exceed and compare it to other X servers available for the Win32 platform, you will not go back. It is well worth the money if your boss or school is paying for it.
which is why I know why the Titanic's center propeller was smaller, and the difference between soldering, brazing and welding, and the maximum theoretical efficiency for a heat engine, and...
Now... Where'd I leave my keys?
-- IANAEG - I am not an elder god.
G'day folks... well, to answer your question, my doctor tells me that mental disorders, such as ADHD, manic depression, etc., are passed on through heredity...whether that's entirely true or not, I am not sure...I figured I'd toss that into the ring...take care folks! :) John D. Lewis
I hear that weight-lifting does the opposite. Maybe they cancel out in the end?
I have a horrible memory, but I've got huge, uh... er... what was I saying?
--
Everything I know in life I learnt from
This explains the popularity with strong caffine among geeks I guess :)
what about alchahol? The best code is always written when drunk or sleep deprived buzzing on caffine, so I guess we'll find a similar study on alchahol some time in the future. Or perhaps its already been done and just been repressed by the government. 10:1 they never teach anyone this nifty fact about caffine in schools.
Those that think with the wrong head should drink more coffee. 8-)
"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair... Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy was he?"
p.s.Remedial calculus is not trivial... It's useless...
;)
Obviously not, since the derivative of the derivative is simply a second order derivative, or
f"(x) where f(x) = ((3x^3)+sin(x))cot(4x-5)), rather than that clumsy nested notation
----
Dave
All hail Discordia!
- Dave
Well...from what I have heard...if you study on caffeine (ie: all that jolt *yummy*), then you won't remeber a damned thing if your not 'on' caffeine when you need to remeber it. This is due to the 'association' factor the brain uses when learning/making new neural pathways..so lesson is: drink lots of caffeine while studying and then chug a case of jolt right 'for the test :) and like the article said...effects on long term memory are uncertain as yet :)
What about girls?
One should also note that there are three different isomers of caffeine, with varying levels of effectiveness. (Amazing the trivia you remember from Organic Chemistry class...)
"adding caffeine to the cells raised the level of calcium inside them, causing them to grow about 33% in size" So, can I compound this over time and over multiple instances of Caffeine intake... maybe I should start drinking 2 cases of dew a week?
I guess this explains the retention of memories in the face of my extreme cannabis intake...
I thought loss of short term memory with cannabis was more of a myth. In fact, I almost think I remember reading it one night on the web, I can't remember the url, but the top graphic was nearly the same color as a lucite bong I used to use.
George
Americans should be geniuses when it comes to recall!!! I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but in the ingredients to regular pepsi, caffiene actully comes before the flavoring. I shouln't ever forget anything, ever, mwahaha.
The best way to accelerate a windows box is at 9.8 meters per second square.
ADD and bi-polar disorders are most likely not linked as you say. There is no large body of scientific research to back your claim.
I see this as a win-win situation for females...
Well, everyone complains that there aren't enough women in techie fields, well Mtn. Dew and coffee is slowly converting male techies into women so that shouldn't be a problem any longer!
Not only does it shrink the male specific organs but it increases brain size? That's two steps closer to being female!
*rofl*
(Really, I'm not trying to be a troll here...)
-AV
The only free X Server for Windows NT I found is
_ _______________
_ _______________
_ _______________
. hqx (for MacOs . hqx (for MacOS s erver-ppc.hqx s erver-68k.hqx
MI/X and it's quite good actually. Here's a bit of
the FAQ:
This document is available in text-only format as well:
ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/mix/mix_faq.txt
_________________________________________________
Q: Is MI/X really free?
A: Yes. No strings attached. MicroImages does retain a copyright on
it, however.
_________________________________________________
Q: Why is it really free?
A: MicroImages gains name recognition and good will. MicroImages
maintains MI/X as the X Server for its professional TNT image
processing, geospatial data management, and desktop cartography
products. In order to make the TNT products work exactly the same on
all Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computers, MicroImages needed a
robust and stable X Server whose future was not in the hands of some
other company. (MicroImages also enjoys the irony that some ARC/INFO
users will run our competitor's product on our free X Server.)
_________________________________________________
Q: How can I get a copy of MI/X?
A: You can download it from MicroImages' FTP site, or from mirror
sites.
The URL to download MI/X from MicroImages' FTP site in Lincoln, NE
U.S.A. is:
ftp://ftp.microimages.com:4021/pub/mix/mix68k.sit
68xxx)
ftp://ftp.microimages.com:4021/pub/mix/mixppc.sit
PPC)
--> http://www.microimages.com in the "Free Stuff" section.
Currently, MicroImages has an Australasian mirror for the MacOS
files only. You can download MI/X from this mirror with the two
following URLs:
ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-
ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-
So whether it protects from radiation, improves your memory, or protects you against prostate cancer, who cares????
Coffee smells good, it tastes good and if you really appreciate it, you will certainly drink it black, grind your beans yourself, and keep your coffee in the fridge :-)
I'm a geek alright, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate good coffee!
---
"Hasta la victoria siempre!" El Comandante
You just described me...
errr...so maybe she's right when she says I'm cranky and short-tempered...
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
.. and I can find the derivative of the derivative of f(x)=((3x^3)+sin(x))*cox(4x-5), and I know why Darth Vader wears his bio-suit, and I know "for whom the bell tolls," and...
Insert mind here.
Ohhh... So my body might be correct on this one. - RTS/RET
If you drink an espresso, only coffee parts that easily resolve in water will land in your cup. You can sleep like a rabbit (same about rutting) even after one or two espressos.
OTOH, what comes out of a percolator and sits for hours on end in that jug in your favourite mouth water hole contains about all what's in that bean, friend and foe. It's especially the stuff that takes a long time to resolve in that hot water that will hurt you. Same is true for the brown soda usually referred to as cola. (no affiliations whatsoever).
Hint: Stay away from those brown waters (be they hot or ice cold) and have a good strong espresso from time to time (spoon must stand stuck in the cup!). And avoid vending machines; usually you ingest more preservatives (NOT the rubber ones) than what you initially made you grab out that dollar bill for.
If you head for a head-bangin' dose of caffeine, get some caffeine pills (aka "astronaut's coffee")
Re Guarana - it is no caffeine but has about the same effect. So does tea.
If thirsty, drink (plain, and, more important, unsweetened (neither sugar nor nutrasweet)) water. If you need a kick, have an espresso or ask your boss/wife/husband/donkey (underline where appropriate)
Use The Source, Luke!
Do what Laverne did - mix in some Pepsi!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Matter can be destroyed, According to the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy, Matter can be destroyed in Nuclear Reactions, but it is converted to an equivalent amount of energy, and Vice Versa. E=mc^2, anyone?
Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
I think that this is probably true (the aphrodisiac part... why else give chocolate to your sweetie instead of, say, skittles? Or hard candy? What makes chocolate the candy of romance?)... so the big question is, is it the caffein in chocolate that acts as the aphrodisiac or one of the other ingredients. In that case, does it mean that your testicles are getting smaller due to over hormone production. (of course, I only believe things that improve the reputation of cocoa... so I don't believe the part about it decreasing testicle size. Chocolate, my one true God... did you know that the Aztecs only let their priests drink it... at least, I think that's what I remember from the Hershey park tour...)
As a hardcore Nestle Quick addict (now called, ugh, NesQuick... I guess to make the name sound more Soylent Greenish) I'm curoius. I'm not planning to stop drinking the rabbit bedecked powder though... either way. (Like I said, I'm an addict... I've tried to quit already just for the weight loss benefits...)
Hrmm... I feel... thirsty.......@.@
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Wow.. I drink at least three cups of coffee a day, along with 3-4 cans of Coca Cola. I eat like a horse. I HAVE to eat breakfast, or else I'm starving by 11:30 AM. Even with breakfast, I must eat a full sized lunch or by 6 PM, my stomach growls so loudly it's louder than my voice! And I've been doing this for most of ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H all of my adult life.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Several times each month, the server dies.
With it go all my xterms, xclearcase, and
emacs. Often I lose work. Always I lose time.
When a window is dragged (with native manager),
the other windows don't update. You can wave
a window around to erase the others.
If a Netscape Calendar dialog box pops up over
an xterm that is scrolling, you will see all
sorts of screen redraw problems.
Danger:
Someone I work with was using Exceed to run
xclearcase over a cable modem. When the Exceed
died, it sent random crap down the connection.
This caused massive check-in and check-out
activity on random files, breaking the build.
I c-c-can f-f-feelmymemory improving already-ready!!
super-super-humandosesof p-p-pure brainjuice! Ifitake just a a a littlebit m-more i think illhavetelekinetic p-p-powers!!
L-l-lookout!!
actually, THC inhibits the transfer from short-term to long-term...
With apologies to Frank Herbert...
"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
it is by the beans of java the thoughts acquire speed,
the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."
---------------------
---------------------
John 3:16 - God's Public License
Well, based on responses to somewhat recent stories about brain restoration, brain growth, cybernetics, wearable computers, etc. I expect about 28.21% of Slashdot readers will be intelligent, impotent--and maybe even immortal--cyborgs that never forget anything. :) Gosh that would be fun. :)
I guess Bill Clinton will have to drink 20 cups of coffee a day.
Another Bill
I would like to know to. I take calcium supplements, because, among other reasons, I drink a lot of coffee. Does this mean I am going to inadvertently cause my brain to implode or explode?
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
Interesting findings about the various sizes of body parts, but I have another problem with caffiene. I was recently diagnosed with multible hernias and ulcers in my asaphogus caused, among other things, by the over use of caffiene (which contributes to acid reflux disease). No. 20 cups of coffee and seven cokes a day is NOT a good thing for the body. I am now at a greater risk of throat cancer. I am currently on prescription medicine and I must limit my caffiene intake (a serious lifestyle change for someone as addicted as I was).
Just wanted to let you all know... considering how geeks are known for their caffiene habits. This might happen to someone else out there.
By the way, I have heard that caffiene from Gurana (i.e. Bawls) does not have this affect. Can anyone confirm?
Brought to you by Frobozz Magic Penguin Fodder.
Bipolar disorder does appear to be genetic. It's certainly hereditary--one of the better established hereditary mental illnesses, in fact--and children of bipolar parents who are later adopted by normals have almost the same incidence of the disease as those who aren't. (That sentence was a bit convoluted....) This implies, rather strongly, that it is genetic, though I could be creative and come up with other explanations.
AFAIK, it's fairly strictly genetic, as well. The diagnostic requirements place environmentally-induced disorders (eg, bipolar due to head-trauma or stress) in a different category, so true Bipolar I/II should be entirely genetic, though the extreme variation in responses to drugs implies that it's either (i) very complex, genetically, or (ii) has a genetic trigger, but is not itself genetic.
(For some reason, this post sucked. I shouldn't try to write just after getting up.)
...but I'm willing to give up a little testicle here and there for increased brainpower. Hell, I'll probably never use 'em anyway...
I've posted this before and I'll post it again!
// Zarf //
Caffine is: The Mind Enhancing Drug !!!
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[signature]
Keep in kind that PNAS, the journal this article appeared in, is NOT peer reviewed. Articles can be submitted by members of the National Academy of Sciences, and they can be their own, or they can be submitted on behalf of others. In either case, NAS members vouch for the top quality fo the submitted material. However, some complete junk has appeared in PNAS voer the years, despite the journal's generally high status.
Also, keep in mind that a single publication doesn't make - much less represents - generally held scientific opinion.
But I see that you all are having great fun with some more mundane implications of the article (or rather with the introductory text to it) and aren't overly concerned about its validity in the first place.
I may drink lotsa coffee, but mi cahones are fine.
not in the theory of general relativity.
Now, if only I could find myself a vorpal sword (which is really a lot like a regular sword, except it goes "snicker-snack!") and make myself more manxome.
"they suggest that a modest, temporary rise in calcium levels results in growth and proliferation of these important brain cells, while a larger and more prolonged rise causes the cells to collapse."
So, I guess if you drink a lot of caffeine you won't be remembering too much, hmm?
Target
There's a 68.71% chance you're right.
"scientists have assumed that changes in the size and shape of these dendritic spines are related to long-term memory, but there has not been any experimental evidence to prove this association."
Even if we forego the lack of experimental evidence, nowhere does it imply that an increase in size or density relates to long-term memory. It only says that a change in size and shape is related.
does increase in size = better long term memory? There is some evidence that chemicals used to increase the size and number of dendrites in a rat's brain have changed a rat's behavior when presented with a new object to explore versus control rats. I saw the oh so non-technical report on one of the network news broadcasts. The scientists claim that this was due to an increase in the rat's ability to remember that the other objects in the cage were already explored. I saw no evidence in the brief news story to suggest that memory had anything to do with the new behavior. My devious mind began to think of other reasons for the new behavior. What if it had actualy affected thier ability to filter out their own smell and once the old object had been explored by them and other rats it had an objectionable odor to them? just one possiblity.
There are many questions this article raise and it answers only one question: What does the direct application of caffine on nerve cells do?: it causes them to release calcium and grow. Much more research is required.
In the meantime I will replace my intravenious caffine drip with a intracraneal drip and find out what I can.
NT is based on the premise that anyone who can manipulate a mouse can administer a system. Huh?!?
I forgot why my balls were so big ! :)
Of course, this still doesn't prove that it has anything to do with memory, and I don't know if I like the other effects of caffeine, like causing muscle tremor and the fact that it has been proven to damage DNA.
Yeah...I think and design best when I'm on caffeine...but I /code/ best with headphones and some good music (Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots are my favorite coding music). It distracts the fidgety part of my mind so I don't wander off and start designing all sorts of other stuff.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
My source of information is a good friend of mine who is a well known registered nutritionist. (For example, she was invited by the Communist Chinese government to visit China and lecture their doctors. Not only was she allowed into Bejing, but she was also asked to visit some hospitals out in the more rural areas.)
The primary cause of Bipolar disorders is extreme stress. The real "catch" is the definition of stress. Extreme stress could mean chemical stress on the body (eg. using narcotics), emotional stress (eg. going through a divorce), time pressures (eg. Prepare a PhD Thesis defense), and so on.
I think she's been looking into ways to increase the body's ability to cope with stress, which can remove the bipolar disorder. In particular, detecting which bio-chemical disorders appear in bipolar patients and whether fixing those disorders reverse the disorder.
-Ted
Injured software engineer wins against Mattel
In any case, here at CMU, we'll probly be the first to find out long term effect
of super-caffine-consumption
Boy, that's the truth. Let me just say that
at CMU I had a cappuccino machine in my
dorm room. And it was in quite a used
state after my four years.
--- witty signature
Hmmm... "makes your brain bigger and testicles smaller".
:)
I believe beer, at least in practice, has the opposite effect, and I drink lots of that, so I should balance out to a brain/testicle ratio of 1.0, indicative of a proper balance of the pursuits of the mind and those of the body.
Just as a quick check, if you have ever (seriously) threatened to "open up a can of whoop-ass on" someone, you probably have a b/t ratio of less than 0.5. Similarly, if you have ever written a 50-line post to alt.movies about the numberous time travel contradictions in "Back to the Future 2", you probably have a b/t ratio over 1.5....
DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
He looks at what happens in the brain during meditation by looking at similar phenomena and their causes. He discusses the results of neural-stimulation experiments and also the effect on people of injury or surgery on various parts of the brain.
Not a fluffy New Age book for the credulous.
The ambitions are: wake up, breathe, keep breathing.
If you get sleepy from sugared colas it could easily be intolerence to all that evil high fructose corn syrup.
If caffiene can aid long-term memory, and nutrasweet can inhibit short-term memory, where does that leave Diet Coke?
Am I doomed to remember every School House Rock song, but never know what I had for breakfast this morning?
Note that the press release indicated that they found signs that spines increased more where there were already many dendritic spines. This is exactly what you want, according to the notion that the number of spines is directly correleted with the strength of a synapse, i.e. the strength of an associative relationship.
http://minduploading.org
Caffeine is found in coffee, coke, penguin mint and yes, tea.
No, not the English red tea. You still need to add milk and sugar, that make no different.
Try Japanese green tea or Chinese tea. There is shin-ca (japanese), Oolong, Pur-Err, etc. Green tea and chinese tea taste terrible if you add sugar, but it is ok if you put honey for below average quality tea. Due to crazy Taiwanese, best quality tea is expansive than gold. Luckily, most of us still afford good quality tea. Just take note, Chinese restaurant seldom serve good tea.
Yes, everything have side effect. Like beer, tea make you pee a lot.
Yeah...pee way too too much. I spend half my day on the can if I drink alot of coffee. Plus if it's a warm day, the warm drink gives me swamp ass. Blech.
Blar.
I have recall one article I read somewhere, 5 gram s of caffeine can put an adult to sleep forever. Don't panic, you must consume at least 50 cans of cokes or 50 cups of coffee, (or I suspect) or 5 packs of Penguin mint in 1 day to commit suicide.
Due to the word "caffeine" origin from coffee, many people though only coffee contain caffeine. Beside coke, the coffee rival, tea, also contain caffeiene.
Would nicotine produce the same results, sure its bad for your lungs, and your lip, but I imagine it has some rather odd effects on your brain. Any 'chemical' or 'drug'(mind you) alters the way your mind operates, and the way your mind produces, and utilizes chemicals. I also wonder, if you have a lack of sleep, does caffeine stimulate these cells a lot more? =) --Brian
And you're right, the only way to get calcium into your cells is through slow diffusion over time.
"Wonderful! Now I will be smart, impotent, and resistant to radiation! The evolution of a new human subspecies! "
If you weren't so high on caffeine right now,
surely you'd realize that your impotency would
make your "subspecies evolution" rather short-lived.
Yes, and don't call me Shirley.
-WW
Well, I have ADHD (as does my father, possibly inherited) and am bipolar (as is my mother, most likley inhereted). I don't know if there's a relationship between the two or if I am just unlucky.
BTW: Caffine does not really have a reverse effect on me, espresso rocks. However, I don't take Methalphineadate anymore (Never too ritalin, always the generic stuff), and haven't in ~5 years, maybe more, I don't remember (I'm 17 now) So it's quite possible I've gotten slightly past it through early treatment.. anyone know if this is possible ( I started taking Methalphineadate when I was 5, btw)
-palp
Yes, my doctor told me to avoid caffiene for that reason. But I have less problem with reflux when I drink more iced tea.
I guess women luck out on this one. Drink up girls!
Actually, study of Einstein's brain has turned up some pretty striking differences between his brain and the average Joe. http://www.msnbc.com/news/281193.asp?cp1=1 Maybe you should throw away at least that textbook.
Some people (most?) seem to grow out of ADHD. For others, it's a lifelong situation.
The ambitions are: wake up, breathe, keep breathing.
Arabica is the "original" coffee bean. It has less caffeine, and a fuller, richer smoother flavor. It is harder to grow and thus more expensive. Sometimes you will see 100% Columbian. I think this means it uses only Arabica beans. Not sure.
Robusta was made so coffee could be grown in more places. It is more robust and can thrive in locations Arabica can't. It has more caffeine, and a bit less "body", and is more bitter than Arabica. It is also a lot cheaper.
Basically your cheap coffee will be chock full o robusta, while the more expensive 100% Columbian, or Supremo will have the higher-quality (IMHO) Arabica beans. That's why coffee always tastes better when you get it from like a restaurant...they use Arabica (or it could just be my imagination).
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
And I thought I was the only one who could remember the specifics of setting PPP up from 3 years ago, but always forgot to take lunch with him in the morning.
Mmmm... time for my 4th cup of the day...
Salon just ran an article about how a caffeine & ethonal cocktail protected rat's brains during strokes.
Interesting stuff.
I've read the article, and it doesn't say caffeine is good. They still don't know that. All they know is that it changes braincells. What if it also decreases the life time of the brain cells? That would certainly be bad.
Gustavo J.A.M. Carneiro
I believe that the reason ritilin works is because it stimulates the reticular formation in your brain. The reticular formation is the portion of your brain that keeps you alert and attentive. People with ADHD have trouble doing these things. The ritilin stimulates this portion of the brain, and therefor people with ADHD can keep attentive better.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I was a heavy coffee drinker for 8 years and I didn't eat breakfast because I had no appetite. Eating sugar in the afternoon made me fall asleep. After I finally quit my reaction to sugar normalized and I feel a billion times healthier.
I'd have to say that moderation is the key. Make sure you eat right if you are going to ingest a lot of caffeine and it is probably wise not to drink alot of soda which is full of sugar.
Yes, I remember reading this before a last Wednesday, just before dinner, while ignoring a jack in the box commercial before the channel 7 news. It is great for long term memory but lousy for short..
...er...what was I saying?
The cake is a pie
This would seem like drinking coffee black wouldn't provide the calcium for the desired growth effect.
...
Latte vs. Expresso war?
gotta run, time to put on another pot
.
Wonderful! Now I will be smart, impotent, and resistant to radiation! The evolution of a new human subspecies!
Actually, if you read the article, you see that the indication of neural growth is in the dendrite fibers. If you don't remember from high school biology, the dendrites are the feathery tentacles on one side of the nerve cell opposite to the long trailing axon on the other. Here's a pic:
http://www.pva.org/pn/9805cell/fig1a.gif
These scientists in Israel have remarked that prolonged exposure to caffeiene promotes growth of the dendrite forest. New dendrite trunks don't sprout, but the ones that alread exist become "leafier". Now, there are many theories about what constitutes a "smart" brain. Repeated study of Einstein's chilled gray blob have failed to turn up any manifest differences from brains of the average population. However, it's generally accepted that the interconnection between cells, handled by the axons and dendrites, has a bearing on our ability to remember data and patterns. The better and more efficient your connections, the faster you can see patterns in your daily experiences, and the smarter you are.
The key word is "efficient". This caffeiene-promoted boost in dendrite growth may be fairly random. If so, then the connections it is forming between cells may not be relevant to efficient pattern retrieval. This would actually slow down your thought processes by weaking the strength of the electrochemical signal along the "correct" pattern pathway. Your axon bodies only release so much neurotransmitter at any given time, so the potency is weakened by a proliferation of recipient dendrites.
Don't throw away your textbooks just yet.
-konstant
-konstant
Yes! We are all individuals! I'm not!
I've heard that you can kill yourself from OD'ing on caffiene, but I can't remember the figure. Are there any other negatie effects besides OD'ing and teste shrinkage? Does it shorted one's life expectancy?
As an avid coffee drinker, I like the news, but there's a lot more research to do. Based on the article, I'm curious what happens in people that take calcium supplements. (The research seems to state that calcium imposed from outside the cell is bad, while releasing it from inside the cell is good -- so what's the good way to get calcium into the cell in the first place, slow diffusion over time?)
The other half of this is that coffee contains something like six or seven dozen different chemicals (if memory serves; it's at least fifty), caffeine is only one of 'em and most of the rest are still unidentified. Translation: we're still not sure what the others do to us...
(Peers over rim of coffee cup) Excuse me, looks like it's time for my next cup.
Livin' on the edge, that's me.
So that is where the jack goes.
I didn't see it in the article, or is it a reference to an urban legend that I (*gasp!*) haven't heard?
the theory behind what you're describing is this (as well as I can understand/reproduce it):
ADD/ADHD people are already hyper/overstimulated. so, when you stimulate them some more, it's kinda like an overload, and the net effect is that you wrap around to the other end of the scale, i.e. calm.
however, IANAB (I am not a biologist)
Lea
The findings point to a need for further research into these processes, since they suggest that a modest, temporary rise in calcium levels results in growth and proliferation of these important brain cells, while a larger and more prolonged rise causes the cells to collapse. The implications for long-term memory and learning are not yet clear.
The article seemed to come to the conclusion that an excess of calcium can actually cause brain cells to collapse. Can an excess of caffeine trigger an excess of calcium in the brain? If so, wouldn't caffeine only be good for you in moderation (like most things)?
> alt.support.attn-deficit
shouldn't that be alt.support.attn-def-ooh-look-a-pretty-butterfly?
dave "a chameleon on acid under a strobe light"
It was rather interesting thou. I wonder if because you have longer dendrites if it makes you smarter too? I also wonder ihow it woudl affect children, before puberty? Most geeks after all seem to drink alot of coffee or soda (at least the ones I meet). Any correlation?
Only 'flamers' flame!
Nope: the TOTAL QUANTITY of energy in a closed system can be neither created or destroyed.
Matter and energy are theoretically convertible using E=mc2
dave
I used to drink coffee or take caffeine tablets whenever I needed that "push" that only a stimulant can provide. I have found, however, that the amphetamines provide a much 'cleaner,' stronger, and enduring stimulation than caffeine. A 5mg tablet of dextroamphetamine sulfate ("Dexedrine") puts me in gear as well as a honkin' LOT of coffee, with fewer physical side-effects and a certain clarity I don't get from caffeine.
I don't have the Merck Index at my fingertips and I don't recall the exact properties of the two compounds (is caffeine a beta-agonist?), but I wonder if caffeine shares long-term brain effects with the amphetamine class of stimulants (and vice-versa). Anybody with actual knowledge care to speculate?
So it makes your brain get bigger while it makes your testicles get smaller.
Some women I know would claim the former is caused by the latter.
--
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
They're only good for being a convenient punching bag for pissed off girlfriends.
Have a beer instead fellas. You'll at least think you're smarter with bigger balls!
I suggest checking out the Caffeine and Coffee FAQs - click here.
I also just finished working with the FAQ's maintainer on a trimmed down version for Palm Pilot (in case you eve need to decide between Sugar Free Mr. Pibb and Dr. Pepper striclty on Caffeine content). I don't think he's linked them yet, but you can go to my page to get them (in the Palm Pilot section).
Johnath
Excuse me, but matter can be created and destroyed. It is energy that you are thinking of. "Energy can be neither created nor destroyed." Matter can be transformed into energy and then back into matter. Electrons are routinely converted into photons and back again. Shawn
I suggest checking out the Caffeine and Coffee FAQs - click here.
I also just finished working with the FAQ's maintainer on a trimmed down version for Palm Pilot (in case you eve need to decide between Sugar Free Mr. Pibb and Dr. Pepper striclty on Caffeine content). I don't think he's linked them yet, but you can go to my page to get them (in the Palm Pilot section).
Johnath
If this dendrite growth is more random, making the connections it forms irrelevant to efficient pattern retrieval, it sounds very much like it would enhance associativity at the expense of logical thinking. ;) dynamic light sources in 'em? Impossible, there's too much calculation ;) now, what is foolishly unrealistic today?
You could almost call that enhancing creativity at the expense of intelligence. You could also call it schizophrenia (tendency to associate _incorrectly_). However, there's one thing that's quite clear- 'thinking outside the box' or making conceptual jumps requires more than simple logical and efficient pattern retrieval. What sane, logical person would have speculated on how to make a consumer computer and decided, "I know! I'll make it a bright, transparent gumdrop!"? The idea is totally insane- but it worked and is still working.
That's just one example of many- but the point is that if caffeine increases connections in this manner, it could be said to enhance innovation. This also suggests that innovation is on the borderline between logic and schizophrenia- the 'sweet spot' is ideas wacky enough to be innovative, but not so foolish as to be useless. That, as well, changes as the environment changes- many computer things would have been foolish five or ten years ago. 3D video games? Yeah right
Meept!! I love you!!
The brain is one seriously ad-hoc architecture. At a basic level, there is impulse: smell coffee, raise cup. To avoid having this cause problems in awkward circumstances (like when using hands for more interesting things [more interesting than coffee? Hmmmm]) there is a review process (think gatekeeper) that checks impulses before execution.
This gatekeeper, being a relative latecomer in evolutionary terms, isn't particularly robust. Lots of things can take it offline, such as alcohol, which explains why a depressant (alcohol) can act as an apparent stimulant.
Likewise, people with ADHD actually have soporific gatekeepers and thus for them the very thought is the deed ("No, Honey, I really didn't mean to spill coffee all over that white shirt while we were kissing!") Stimulants "wake up" the 'gatekeeper' and allow the subject to stop foot before oral insertion.
Lots more of this over on alt.support.attn-deficit
HTH. HAND.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Many years later I finally quit caffiene, and began the slowdown from being permanently wired to "normal". The weird thing is that alot of those memories from the pre-coffee days came flooding back unsolicited. I'll be walking down the street and some random memory that I haven't though of in 10 years will just pop up.
All hail The Glorious Meept!!
It's been a sad and quiet place without you...
Actually, all ADHD and ADD cases I've known have been bipolar. There's a lot of evidence that implies these disorders are symptoms of being bipolar.
-Ted
Does that mean that if I drink a six-pack of Jolt Cola before I cram for a test that I'll remember the information for years? How about Dew? ;)
LOAD "SIG",8,1
LOADING...
READY.
RUN
I'm not planning on reproducing anyway. Anyone who knows me would agree that it's a good idea ;-)
Bad things often happen to good people,
It is up to them to see that they remain good.
true enough. does to me.
there are also a whole lot of other bad things that caffine does to you -- just check any Bio 1A text or AP Bio text. it's listed in there, along with the chart describing methods of birth control, including "withdrawal"*
* "Side effects: frustration in some"
Lea
Just because it causes this good on a local scale, is it actually goodfor us over all? Using up the stored calcium? Does this wear people out earlier?
;)
In any case, here at CMU, we'll probly be the first to find out long term effect of super-caffine-consumption
Please tell me that you guys are joking when you say caffeine shrinks testicals, leads to breast tenderness, and lumps...
please...
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
http://www.labf.com
Or at Tucows under X-servers. Works great. $99
shareware. If you don't pay the shareware is fully
functional except a 30-minute time-limit (& then you can log back in). Worth the money, if you have it. MI/X's TWM is funky.
To stay alive you must have water for your body to function. To stay healthy you should let your body regulate your water balance. Caffeine is a diuretic and will limit how functional your circulatory system is. You could swim after eating, but you should keep in mind that your digestive system and muscles will have to share your bloodstream. Manic depression is supposed to be linked to a deletion of genetic code. It is just optimised code without some error correction.
If you're stuck using it, try to find a way around using the built-in twm. If you look at the directory it's installed in, you'll notice twm is a separate executable. I know I've managed to start just the X server (or maybe start the pair, then kill twm) before. Then I ran fvwm remotely and it looked much nicer. Wish I could provide specifics, but my NT laptop's hard drive died...
I am wondering if the problem is actually mearly with coffee and not caffiene. Prilosec's web site (www.acidcontrol.com) says nothing about avoiding caffiene, simply avoiding coffee, caffinated OR decaffinated.
Brought to you by Frobozz Magic Penguin Fodder.
Finally, a reason to make caffienated milk. I need my caffiene to wake up every day, but I also drink a gallon or so of milk every day too. I've always thought that if I could get both at the same time, I'd be much happier. Calcium to supply my brain cells, and the caffeine to release it. Nice.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
Mmm Guarana, haven't had that since I left Brasil. The best stuff is not the sickly sweet carbonated beverage, but the milkshake like concoction they make up in Para province. Street vendors sell it there. Also reputed to have aphrodisiac properties, just the thing to counter the deleterious effect of coffee ;)
caffiene is far from a benign drug, and anyone telling you different is probably funded by the cola companies, much like nicotine is not harmful. Caffiene causes huge problems: fatigue, concentration problems, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, and it's a diuretic.
For people who claim that it "does nothing" to them, are either liars, are physically addicted to the substance, or are trying to bill themselves as some sort of "superhuman", where the rules don't apply to them. If you start to pay attention more to your body's chemistry, and how you feel after comsuming certain kinds of foods, you will quickly realize that caffiene does quite a lot to you.
As a Proud Consumer of about 50 ounces of Caffene Daily, I must Strongly Protest. ;)
Well.. Technicly my problems are with short term memory, But Without my short term memory, I have no long term memory
Perhaps the Study is Flawed. After all, Most caffene users have things like notepad and uh.. notepad, to refrence to. Isnt that the real thing here?
I dont know, I cant remember...
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I guess this explains the retention of memories in the face of my extreme cannabis intake...
========================================
Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
I'll take condom flavors for 800, Alex.
Ghetto
A witty saying proves nothing. -Voltaire
Great, so I'll have better long-term memory, I'll be cranky, short-tempered, not sleep well, have headaches when I can't get my fix, my hands will shake so that it's impossible to do fine work, and I'll get anxiety attacks.
No thanks. I'm not going back. Some people can "do" 'ffeine. Others can't.
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Ok. Here we go. In really basic lame terms.
People with ADD actually have brains that are "craving" stimulation, because their brains are understimulated, there is less going on. It sounds counter-intuitative, but think about it, it makes senese and its biology (bio-psychology). The ADD brain, running low on stimulation wants that extra thing to do to try and get normal in a sense.
So you can see how caffine will calm you down. It stimulates your brain and brings you to normal, so therefore you feel more calm and closer to "normal"
from the article:
"The implications for long-term memory and
learning are not yet clear."
I've been hooked on tea for 24 years now,
but I still have trouble remembering song
lyrics. So maybe it means nothing.