Out of sheer randomness, Antu would like to talk about
CAFFEINE
When the word caffeine is mention, 90% of us will think about coffee
Yes, I must admit. I am a coffee addict. But then again, it wasn’t the coffee, but I think, it’s the caffeine. As I can live without my coffee for a few days, only to be replace by my tea.
Growing up in my family, my parents never failed to have coffee for breakfast, after lunch and dinner. Every night, my granma would drink her coffee and watch the tele until late nite, without fail. It becomes a custom in my family, that we have teatime after Asar, drinking black tea together with goreng pisang or some other kuih-muih. Yes, I grew up in a family of caffeine’ness; either its coffee, or tea.
“Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid”
Caffeine can also be found in certain fruits, soft drinks, energy drinks and in a small amount in chocolate.
A fact that you might not know:
‘Caffeine is the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance, but, unlike many other psychoactive substances, it is legal and unregulated in nearly all jurisdictions’- Wikipedia.com
In antu’s mind “yeaahhhhhh….legal drugggssss babbeyyyyyy…..”
-_-"
Thus, antu would like to share the pros and cons of caffeine; as it’s good to know these facts that might help you, and also effects you.
*bare in mind that these effects might be differs to you, as each of us has individual body effects on caffeine*
The key is quantity and quality
So, below are some random effects of what caffeine can do to you:
1.Caffeine can elevate heart rate, increase blood flow, and raise body temperature. (I like to drink my coffee during cold times…in my case, when it’s raining and if I’m under Malaysian air-cond)
2.It increases blood sugar levels and acts as a diuretic, meaning you urinate more frequently and reduce water intake. (going to the toilet to wee-wee more eh?)
3.Small amounts of caffeine taken daily, for example a cup of coffee a day; can create physical dependence on caffeine. If you fail to drink your daily dose of caffeine, you can end up with headaches, excessive sleepiness, a feeling like you can’t function or flu like symptoms. (hmmm…very familiar symptoms in my case)
4.Caffeine has its ability to disrupt sleep cycles, causing less deep sleep (freddy wouldn’t like this, for sure)
5.Caffeine increases intellectual activity when fatigued or bored. (I wish I can have it during my classes in high school)
6.Caffeine interferes with adenosine, a brain chemical that normally has a calming effect. (drink one before you meditate in yoga class….i’m sure you’ll be the least student that the yoga instructor prefers)
7.Caffeine may reduce the incidence of kidney stones by increasing the flow of urine and decreasing its concentration (like I said, wee-wee more maaahhh)
8.Caffeine may aggravate osteoporosis by leaching calcium from the bones. (I wonder what will happen if I drink my coffee together with anlene…hhmmm…)
9.Caffeine aggravates stress in people who drink it every day. (to my kids/partners:all my years in starbucks as an sm, I blame the caffine…wink-wink)
10.Caffeine dilates the arteries of the brain and may counter migraines. Caffeine is also a cause of migraines. (so I dunno which one is which in my case -_-“)
Now….over dosage of caffeine may cause you:
•Visual: seeing flashes
•Heart: rapid and irregular heartbeat.
•Ears: ringing
•Skin: more sensitive to touch or pain
•Muscle: twitching and trembling
•Brain (central): confusion, headache, delirium and anxiety
In other words…when over dosage of caffeine, you may look like this:
The thing that inspired me to write this post about caffeine is because of today’s incident. Whereby I wasted 20mins of my life stuck inside the toilet.
It was cold in my office (as usual) – I was sleepy - had my coffee – sipping it slowly – felt energize a bit – few mins later – wanted to wee-wee so badly – rush to the toilet – lock the door – broke the lock – stuck inside.
One: I waited for someone to at least come to the rescue (but nooo...miracles didn’t happen for me)
Two: I felt that the reason I was ‘kuat’ enough to accidently broke it was because I need to wee-wee so badly, and I have the ‘strength’ out of my coffee.
Three: I got out MacGyver style, by using my belt and some toilet tissue (wow….)
-_-"
hmmmm...not bad for being a caffeine junkie eh?
Coffee anybody?
What do you think? Write your views and comments about the column. I would like to hear your opinions. Anything & everyone is welcome.
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