Caffeine – Psychopharmacology – Why do we like it?

I found this caffeine article on the British Association for Psychopharmacology.  One of the nicest things about this site is that they have made it available to laymen.  I mean, they don’t use too much scientific talk, they speak language you and I understand and can put to use.

So why do I care about caffeine?  Because most people drink it and because of the discussion on tolerance. I think, because you probably have hands on experience with caffeine, you will get the idea in a more personal way.

Obviously, the better you understand what is happening the more helpful you can be to a loved one suffering from addiction.  It also means you will know if someone is being deceptive.

I just want to give people as many ways to understand tolerance and addiction. Caffeine might help some of you.

 

 

Here is a link and an excerpt of the article:

 

Caffeine – human kinds favourite drug (Brits use a “u”)

http://www.bap.org.uk/publicinformationitem.php?publicinfoID=15

 

 

tolerance also develops to the tendency of caffeine to increase feelings of anxiety and ‘jitteriness,’ even in people who are predisposed to this effect. So, while frequent caffeine consumers don’t gain an increase in alertness above normal, they are not made more anxious by caffeine.
Caffeine, however, does benefit physical performance, including, athletic performance. This effect does not appear to be subject to substantial tolerance.

I hope the discussion on caffeine in this article will help you understand tolerance in general and I hope it will help you understand what the caffeine in coffee is doing to you.

I chose that portion of the article to excerpt because it talks about the physical enhancements caffeine makes.  No wonder our bosses put this stuff in the break room.  No wonder the vending machines are full of colas (and caffeine) in our lunchroom.  Even our neighbors offer us this stuff when we visit.

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