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From: Invisible
Subject: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 08:11:24
Message: <4fdb266c@news.povray.org>
According to popular legend, caffeine is a powerful stimulant with 
increases alertness, decreases reaction time, improves memory and 
cognition, and decreases fatigue. It's also addictive, and if you stop 
taking it, you develop crippling withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, 
muscle soreness, joint pains and fatigue.

Question: Has ANYBODY ever actually experienced any of these effects? 
Either from taking the drug or stopping it? Because *I* certainly haven't.

At various times in my life, there have been times when I'm drinking 
several cups of strong tea every day, and there have been times when I 
go for months without drinking any tea at all. I have never noticed any 
measurable difference.

According to Wikipedia, the effects of caffeine are strong enough that 
if you take enough of it, you can actually /die/ from it. (Although, 
obviously, not from any quantity that you'll ever find in tea or 
coffee.) So apparently the drug does do /something/. But I've yet to 
experience any measurable effect.

Is it just me?

(Similarly, several people seem to think that eating large quantities of 
sugar results in a "sugar rush", which I have also yet to experience. 
Alternatively, maybe I live in a /permanent/ sugar rush, I don't know...)


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From: Bill Pragnell
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 08:45:00
Message: <web.4fdb2db8b96a44165b7d07940@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> At various times in my life, there have been times when I'm drinking
> several cups of strong tea every day, and there have been times when I
> go for months without drinking any tea at all. I have never noticed any
> measurable difference.

A cup of tea contains a lot less caffeine than a cup of coffee. I drink a lot of
tea in start-stop patterns similar to yours, and I've never noticed the effect
either. But I've known people to stop drinking 6-10 cups of strong coffee a day,
and suffer the symptoms described...

Some people are more sensitive to it, too. I know at least one person who can't
sleep properly for days after having a single cup of tea.


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From: Francois Labreque
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 09:29:10
Message: <4fdb38a6$1@news.povray.org>

> According to popular legend, caffeine is a powerful stimulant with
> increases alertness, decreases reaction time, improves memory and
> cognition, and decreases fatigue. It's also addictive, and if you stop
> taking it, you develop crippling withdrawal symptoms such as headaches,
> muscle soreness, joint pains and fatigue.
>
> Question: Has ANYBODY ever actually experienced any of these effects?
> Either from taking the drug or stopping it? Because *I* certainly haven't.

Yes.  I used to drink 3 or 4 coffees, plus over a liter or Coke per day.

Went camping for a week-end, where neither of those were available, and 
had one of the worst non-migraine-related headaches ever.

>
> At various times in my life, there have been times when I'm drinking
> several cups of strong tea every day, and there have been times when I
> go for months without drinking any tea at all. I have never noticed any
> measurable difference.
>
> According to Wikipedia, the effects of caffeine are strong enough that
> if you take enough of it, you can actually /die/ from it. (Although,
> obviously, not from any quantity that you'll ever find in tea or
> coffee.) So apparently the drug does do /something/. But I've yet to
> experience any measurable effect.
>

I've also had cases where i've taken too many coffees, when pulling 
all-nighters at uni, or work, where I would have jitters.  I guess it 
was a combination of being tired and too much caffeine.

Which reminds me of my old .sig file that was a variation of the Mentat 
incantation from the Dune movie that I had found on the Net:

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
it is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning,
it is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."

> Is it just me?

You've probably have not taken enough, or are not atuned to its effects, 
so that even though they're there, you don't notice them (e.g. first 
time pot smokers who don't notice they're high), or attribute them to 
another cause (e.g. I used to think that having the flu made me have 
weird claustrophobic nightmares, except I later found out it was a side 
effect of the pseudoephedrine found in most flu medicine, and not of the 
flu itself).


-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 10:11:06
Message: <4fdb427a$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:11:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> Question: Has ANYBODY ever actually experienced any of these effects?

Yes.  If I drink caffeinated beverages for a few days and then don't, I 
get a really nasty headache.

Jim


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 14:41:26
Message: <4fdb81d6$1@news.povray.org>
On 15/06/2012 3:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:11:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>
>> Question: Has ANYBODY ever actually experienced any of these effects?
>
> Yes.  If I drink caffeinated beverages for a few days and then don't, I
> get a really nasty headache.
>

What’s a headache?
Like Andrew, I have never suffered withdrawal symptoms from caffeine. 
Nor have I had a caffeine rush. I do like a coffee with sugar first 
thing in the morning to “get me going” but no cravings if there is none.


-- 
Regards
     Stephen


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 15 Jun 2012 19:27:24
Message: <4fdbc4dc$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:41:25 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 15/06/2012 3:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:11:23 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>
>>> Question: Has ANYBODY ever actually experienced any of these effects?
>>
>> Yes.  If I drink caffeinated beverages for a few days and then don't, I
>> get a really nasty headache.
>>
>>
> What’s a headache?

Oh, I think you know what a headache is.  Read a bunch of posts that 
could be answered with "GIYF" and then find a brick wall to bang your 
head against.

That'll surely cause one. ;)

> Like Andrew, I have never suffered withdrawal symptoms from caffeine.
> Nor have I had a caffeine rush. I do like a coffee with sugar first
> thing in the morning to “get me going” but no cravings if there is none.

Yeah, some people do not react the same way - which is why with nutrition 
guidelines, a lot of them make no sense at all, because different people 
react differently to things.

Which is why I laugh when I see a new report that says, for example, that 
"high fat diets might just be good for you" - they always miss the "in 
moderation" part.

Jim


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From: Tim Cook
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 16 Jun 2012 01:08:30
Message: <4fdc14ce$1@news.povray.org>
On 2012-06-15 18:27, Jim Henderson wrote:
> Yeah, some people do not react the same way - which is why with nutrition
> guidelines, a lot of them make no sense at all, because different people
> react differently to things.

No, they make perfect sense, as long as you understand them in the 
context that they're /guidelines/ for the statistical norm.  Not a set 
of hard and fast rules for absolutely everybody.

--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.sjcook.com


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 16 Jun 2012 01:29:27
Message: <4fdc19b7@news.povray.org>
On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 00:08:20 -0500, Tim Cook wrote:

> On 2012-06-15 18:27, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yeah, some people do not react the same way - which is why with
>> nutrition guidelines, a lot of them make no sense at all, because
>> different people react differently to things.
> 
> No, they make perfect sense, as long as you understand them in the
> context that they're /guidelines/ for the statistical norm.  Not a set
> of hard and fast rules for absolutely everybody.

Well, yeah, that's what I was going for.  They make sense for that 
statistical norm, but not for the individual if they don't work for the 
individual.

Jim


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 16 Jun 2012 02:35:19
Message: <4fdc2927$1@news.povray.org>
On 16/06/2012 12:27 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:41:25 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>

>> What’s a headache?
>
> Oh, I think you know what a headache is.

Not from personal experience.

> Read a bunch of posts that
> could be answered with "GIYF" and then find a brick wall to bang your
> head against.
>
> That'll surely cause one. ;)
>

I would say that that would give you a sore head as opposed to the 
headaches that I have read about. I seem to remember that I did have one 
when I was a child but that is a memory of a memory, now. Very 
occasionally, once every couple of years, I get an ice pick headache 
which lasts less than a second. I don’t think that really counts though 
as they don’t last long enough to have any debilitating effect.
Incidentally, I don’t get hangovers, either. And it is not that I don’t 
drink ;-)

>
> Yeah, some people do not react the same way - which is why with nutrition
> guidelines, a lot of them make no sense at all, because different people
> react differently to things.
>

If you don't like the guidelines just wait a couple of years and they 
are bound to change. :-)

> Which is why I laugh when I see a new report that says, for example, that
> "high fat diets might just be good for you" - they always miss the "in
> moderation" part.
>

My motto is moderation in everything including moderation.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen


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From: Orchid Win7 v1
Subject: Re: The mystery of caffeine
Date: 16 Jun 2012 05:03:20
Message: <4fdc4bd8$1@news.povray.org>
On 16/06/2012 06:08 AM, Tim Cook wrote:
> On 2012-06-15 18:27, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yeah, some people do not react the same way - which is why with nutrition
>> guidelines, a lot of them make no sense at all, because different people
>> react differently to things.
>
> No, they make perfect sense, as long as you understand them in the
> context that they're /guidelines/ for the statistical norm. Not a set of
> hard and fast rules for absolutely everybody.

Personally, I think the guideline amounts would be more useful if they 
gave you an ideal /range/ rather than just a single /point/. But who 
cares what I think...


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