Caffeine: Stress Creator and Stress Breaker

Caffeine addiction can lead one to deduce that caffeine is truly the center of one’s daily world. I get up want coffee. If I don’t get it I become filled with an unmistakable craving. When I finally finish my cup, I feel fine for a while, yet there is always a nagging feeling left within, “Don’t you want another cup?”

Its true, caffeine and especially coffee has become the societally accepted psychoactive drug of choice. It bridges race, gender, and culture. Millions desire its effects. Can this addiction be at all negative?

Well simply put: Yes. It raises heart rates, anxiety, and when none is available the addict (most of the world) becomes down right miserable and annoying to be around. Caffeine addiction is horrible, yet we deal with it on a daily basis, because we accept that we don’t live in a perfect world and if you’ve got to be addicted–better its caffeine.

With all of that being said we should all try our best to lower our caffeine use, a little reduction might do us some good.

Caffeine Is Hard to Quit!

Today I almost fell. Thats right.  Now you have to understand caffeine is a pain in the but to try to control.  As you all know I in no way trying to quit right now, but merely trying to control my desire and actual caffeine addiction, if in fact I am truly addicted.  I guess if I can control my drinking habits I am not really addicted:)  Now for what I call a near fall–I almost had that second cup before noon. One serious goal of mine as I have stated in a previous post is not to have that second cup until noon time.  Today I felt really tired (probably dehydrated) and really wanted to drink that second cup of coffee right away.

This is where my caffeine addiction sprang into action.  All sorts of voices tried to convince me to drink that second cup.

“Don’t worry nothing will happen.”

“Come on, what’s a little coffee going to do?”

“You need it to work better.”

Anyway you get the idea. At any rate I over came the voices and went on to drink another cup of coffee at noon.

Caffeine Craziness

I was so tired this morning, I rushed to grab my cup of coffee from the pot my wife had prepared.  Wow! It was amazing.  I felt so alive and awake and…about an hour later I wanted another cup, but I held off.

I see now the reliance I have on coffee and caffeine in general to stay awake.  I wonder how long I have been like that?  Since when did this start? At any rate I seem to be keeping it in control as I still haven’t had that second cup!

Or maybe I’ll fix it right now…

Got Caffeine?

Coffee and Caffeine in general are just too good to stop cold turkey. I awake every morning to the same desire–a large cup of fresh brewed Coffee. OK its not the first thing I have, but heck I sure want it to be. I still don’t know what the precise definition of a caffeine addict is or if I suffer from caffeine addiction at all, but one thing is for sure, when I don’t have a cup I certainly crave one.

Part of me really wants to buckle down and quit, but then the other part me says: Everyone around is drinking coffee, why can’t I? Thus is the life of a perpetual coffee connoisseur and caffeine addict.

Watching the Coffee Drip – A Sure Way to Signal a Caffeine Addiction

Knowing when a Caffeine Addiction is out of control is not an easy thing to measure and when someone can’t hold back from drinking the “real black gold” then its clear his dependence to caffeine is very high. The question is when does a caffeine addict know that their  addiction is beyond the acceptable societal norm for caffeine?

Its all about the coffee drip.  Have you ever seen those people, the ones that start the coffee maker going at work and just sit there waiting for every drip to find its way into the pot?  That person has let their caffeine addiction grow to a point where it is out of control.

Now this is not to say that we don’t suffer from caffeine addiction.  I personally believe that most of the world does, but some how we tend to mask it over and on those days when coffee and other caffeine infused products are just simply not available then we try to mask our obvious discomfort.

Whoa to the person who has gotten to the point of the coffee drip malaise.  Remember to be kind and simply smile at him or her and point them in the direction of the nearest Caffeine Addicts Anonymous meeting–oh yeah there aren’t any.

Pushing Off That Second Cup!

I did it!  I had a cup of coffee this morning and then decided to push off the second cup until the afternoon.  I felt great exerting a certain level of free choice that I know will begin to help me cut down on the amount of coffee I am consuming.

It’s a hard and long process to at least cut down on caffeine. Caffeine after all is one of the most addictive psychoactive substances on the planet and since it’s entirely socially accepted, it is even harder, since it is culturally cool to drink the black stuff.

First Step to Quitting Caffeine is…Quit Your Morning Cup

It might sound crazy to all of us workaholics, but its true. That first cup of coffee, you know the one that we covet more than anything.  More than any amount of money in the world, because we know that without no amount of cash would be satisfactory–is probably the reason we have so much caffeine dependency.  This morning  in a very not planned way I didn;t drink my morning cup of coffee until…Noon.  Wow what a difference.  Yeah, it only happened, because I had to drop off my car at the mechanics and then by the time I was done talking to the mechanic and got a ride home it was already noon time.

When I got home I quickly ran to my cup of coffee that had become cold due to my trip to the mechanic.  Surprisingly I felt much better and also appreciated the cup of coffee more.

The lesson: before you try doing any serious quitting see how long you can go without that morning cup of joe.

You just might feel like a different person.

Hello, my name is…and I am a Caffeine Addict

You are probably right that there is no such thing as Caffeine Addicts Anonymous, but if there was I would think about attending. Not that I am in gross negligence of too much consumption of this highly powerful psychoactive drug found in, well just about anything that tastes good, but I consume my fair share of coffee on a regular basis.  And well it’s hard to stop or cut down.  Frankly, the symptoms I have experienced when trying to go a whole day without drinking a cup of coffee are out right horrible. Headaches, irritability, and drowsiness. One has to wonder just how addictive this drug consumers just love to consume is?

There have been many studies about the addictive nature of caffeine.  Some say it is as addictive as other drugs and other studies say it is not addictive at all.  Well for now I am placing my vote with the camp who supports caffeine as a highly addictive agent.  My experience is way to telling to believe any of these studies.