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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.
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.
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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.
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!
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My office has been taken over by iPod people.
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)
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.
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
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.
At this very moment, half the geeks in the world are headed your way to sample the Swiss Chocolate Almond, while the other half offer to assist in the 'lump search.'
Better brew another pot. ^_^
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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 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
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.