It was just another trip with friends to Wisp Ski Resort in Maryland around January 2013 for Conway Bristow, a senior landscape architect major at West Virginia University, or so he thought. For an avid outdoorsman such as Conway, activities such as snowboarding or surfing were quite normal. However, this trip turned his world upside down – literally.
After an 8-foot fall, landing on his head, Conway shook off the accident and didn’t give it a second thought. Once they left the slopes that day, he and his friends ended up at the bar – but the next day he woke up with a hangover that didn’t end. The headache continued to last and Conway finally decided to visit the doctor, only to find out he had a concussion. The headaches continued into the spring semester, but dulled overtime.
With landscape architecture as a major, Conway’s life is kept consistently busy. The classes are demanding and outside class work is constant. Late nights in the studio laying out tedious designs, Conway would drink coffee at night to keep him awake and focused and also in the mornings to jump-start his day. Unfortunately, Conway’s headaches started to get worse and he realized that there was a parallel between them and his caffeine intake.
The headaches eased up after he took a break from caffeine for a couple of weeks, but came back in full force when he once again used coffee to keep him awake for a big project. After realizing that caffeine was the definite trigger of his headaches, he decided to give it up.
Although Conway still struggles with the occasional headache from his concussion, he realized that giving up caffeine was a better option than living in pain. With only two semesters left before he graduates, the hectic lifestyle he lives won’t be slowing down anytime soon. So, instead of consuming coffee or soda, Conway takes vitamins, and the occasional Hershey’s chocolate bar, to give him that extra boost of energy he needs to make it through the day and stay awake at night to work on his designs.
Many of us are similar to Conway and lead incredibly busy lives that require an extra boost of some sort to get us through the day. But is caffeine really that boost our body needs? It’s not uncommon for college students to suffer from headaches and migraines, that aren’t caused by head injuries like Conway’s, to use caffeine as a temporary cure. Dr. David Buchholz, a neurologist at John Hopkins University, explains that caffeine is a trigger that utterly fools people. “In the short-run, it may seem as if it’s warding off a headache. But in the long-run, caffeine causes rebound headaches.”
To put into perspective the average amount of coffee American’s drink (think about how many times a week you yourself visit Starbucks,) we can look at some of the research provided by Experian, an online marketing and research site:
- The average U.S. household that uses whole or ground coffee consumes 4.2 cups per day. In total that’s about 280.5 million cups of coffee consumed at home by Americans each day or about 102 billion cups per year.
- Among households that use coffee, 89% stock regular coffee and 46% stock decaf.
- Among households that use coffee, 84% use pre-ground coffee and 26% use whole bean coffee at least some of the time.
Final’s are drawing near and now is the perfect opportunity for us to better understand the effects that caffeine can have on our bodies. And it’s not only coffee that we get our energetic boosts from – like Conway, many use sugar to help make it through a busy day. Coffee, tea and sugar all have natural caffeine, which, in moderation is completely okay. However, in when consumed too much, our bodies begin to rely on the extra boost of energy and can suffer from withdrawal when taken away. According to the new edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders caffeine withdrawal is now a recognized mental disorder: “If you’ve had more than 250 mg of caffeine (two to three cups of brewed coffee) and experienced five or more of the following symptoms, says the guide, you’ve probably been caffeine-buzzed.”
These symptoms include:
- Restlessness
- Nervousness
- Excitement
- Insomnia
- Flushed face
- Diuresis (having to pee a lot)
- Gastrointestinal disturbance
- Muscle twitching
- Rambling flow of thought and speech
- Tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmia
- Periods of inexhaustibility or psychomotor agitation (unintentional motion, say, rapidly bouncing one leg.)
The effects that caffeine have are a dirty, dirty cycle. We consume mass amounts of caffeine to keep us awake throughout the day, but too much caffeine can lead to insomnia – forcing us to continue to rely on it because we didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Soon (or maybe you’ve already started) you will be brewing k-cups all night long or chugging a 64-oz Mountain Dew from Speedway to keep you going. But what if you had better alternatives?
Instead of downing coffee in the morning, start your day off with a morning workout! It’ll will wake up your body and keep you feeling refreshed and alert as your day moves forward.
While there’s nothing like that morning cup of Joe to jump-start your day, there are more nutritional options to wake you up and get you going as well. Lakin McCann, a Marshall University graduate, said she takes her coffee in the morning with an apple to give her a natural burst of energy. Livestrong also suggests eating a teaspoon of peanut butter for a healthy and effective way to give yourself a boost of energy when you need it. Put it on toast at breakfast or in a sandwich for lunch; it’s packed full of protein, which gives your body the energy it needs.
With an abundance of coffeehouses around us, 5-hour energy shots at nearly every checkout counter and fancy energy drinks promising to wake us up, it’s easy to get caught up in the 21st century caffeine craze. But to keep your future-self (and present-self) healthy, it’s important to be aware of your daily intake of caffeine. It’s suggested that adults consume approximately 400mg of caffeine a day. A tall coffee (12 oz) from Starbucks has 260mg of caffeine in it, and, let’s be honest: what college student has just one cup of coffee a day? Do your body a favor by skipping that third cup of coffee and replace it with a workout or consume a protein-packed snack. Your body will thank you, and your grades might, too.
Interested in learning more about the amount of caffeine that’s in the food you consume? You can visit sites such as www.caffeineinformer.com to find the beverages and foods you consume daily and view the amount of caffeine that the item has in it.