Caffeine Consumption Slows Down Brain Development, Rat Study Shows
144 replies, posted
[QUOTE=chaz13;42297787]Wait, do kids actually feel the need to consume caffeine daily to stay awake? How about getting a reasonable amount of sleep, doing some exercise and drinking some old water?
I'm all for drinking coffee, but relying on it to stay awake is crazy.[/QUOTE]
Back when I was at school I'd be getting my 10 hours sleep and still passing out in class half-way through the day. Year 12(final year) you've got minimum 6 and a half hours of school, and 1-3 hours of homework every day. Not including travel time or extra curricular activities, you're going to be fucked.
[QUOTE=chaz13;42297787]Wait, do kids actually feel the need to consume caffeine daily to stay awake? How about getting a reasonable amount of sleep, doing some exercise and drinking some old water?
I'm all for drinking coffee, but relying on it to stay awake is crazy.[/QUOTE]
If you're taking a bunch of AP or IB classes, yeah, you're going to be drinking coffee. It's inevitable.
It's logistically impossible to get enough sleep if you're in higher-level programs. You have 120 hours in a school week - almost 80 of those are used in schoolwork. Extra-curriculars, during major events like a play, which usually coincided with the end of grading periods? Toss in 20-30 more, and you're getting a comfortable 20ish hours of sleep per week.
That's a harsher example, but I burnt out of IB (along with like 30 other kids) because we were getting anywhere from 4-6ish hours of sleep a night near the end of grading periods and then crashing for 14+ hours on weekends. It was worse for me, because I was involved in an intense theatre program. Averaged about 3-4 hours a night and developed very noticeable heart arrythmia.
I drank at least 3 cups of coffee a day minimum, and I'm already hypersensitive to caffeine.
(basically protip for life never take full IB classes plus intensive theatre programs that keep you at school until 10ish every night because you will develop heart palpitations at 16 and stunt your growth)
More of an extreme example than the average high-schooler's experience (and it basically turned me off of college and academia in general), but I'm in my senior year with a much more relaxed schedule, and I'll get 2-4 hours of homework a night. 10+ hours per day on school is a hell of a lot when you compare it to the average college courseload.
American schools are trying to compete with Asian ones, and instead of streamlining their use of time, they just give you more shit to do. In upper-level classes, it's impossible to survive without both cheating and drinking insane amounts of caffeine.
[editline]24th September 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=MuTAnT;42298954]Back when I was at school I'd be getting my 10 hours sleep and still passing out in class half-way through the day. Year 12(final year) you've got minimum 6 and a half hours of school, and 1-3 hours of homework every day. Not including travel time or extra curricular activities, you're going to be fucked.[/QUOTE]
where the fuck do you go where you get 6.5 hours of school, i'm running from 8:15 to 4:00 senior year.
plus 1.5 hours of homework? shit. i'm in two AP classes and I've got 2-4 hours.
[editline]24th September 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=RichyZ;42297884]if you're in a sport, you go to school at 4am, and leave by around 7pm
its fucking rediculous[/QUOTE]
it's worse if you're not in an athletic activity. at least you get exercise, and that gives you energy.
i spent 8 hours in a row sitting in a chair, another 6ish standing comparatively still on a stage, and then the rest at a desk doing homework. i gained 15 pounds my junior year, and i would've ballooned if i hadn't forgotten to eat most days since i was too stressed to think about eating.
I remember a couple swimmers who were doing IB. They got to school at 5am, exercised until about 7:30ish, then they spent 8 hours in school (mostly asleep) and got home at 5pm with several more hours of homework and 6ish hours of sleep a night.
[QUOTE=FPSMango;42294255]Never understood why people <17 years old would want/need to drink coffee daily.[/QUOTE]
Because it tastes good and helps you wake up in the morning? I mean, I get between 8-10 hours of sleep and it's still a nice aid.
I also think coffee makes teenagers feel grown up, to a certain extent. If adults didn't drink coffee I doubt teens would, because let's be honest - the taste of coffee is not something you appreciate immedietly the first time you try it as if it was soda or candy :v:
Some Say God Some Say Bad witch is it.!?
I think I'll compromise by only drink half as much Coffee as I normally do
[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;42299958]Some Say God Some Say Bad witch is it.!?
I think I'll compromise by only drink half as much Coffee as I normally do[/QUOTE]
I doubt a cup of coffee every morning is going to do serious harm to you.
Personally I drink not one cup every morning but at average 4-5 cups like two times a week. I'm a bit... irregular.
[QUOTE=wraithcat;42294883]A lot of teens tend to abuse energy drinks though, which contain more caffeine than coffee.[/QUOTE]
100g of coffee has ~40mg
100g of red bull has 30mg
[editline]25th September 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=areolop;42296435]Quit caffeine last march. My advice to anyone looking to quit: dont quick cold turkey. Ease yourself off it.[/QUOTE]
I went through a period of taking ~200mg of caffeine per day (4 tablets) for just over 2 months for a summer job
I stopped the job at the end of summer and the headache from not taking caffeine was ridiculous, but interestingly even half a tablet per day (50mg) completely stopped the headaches, which I did for 3 or so days until I no longer had headaches when I didn't have caffeine. So yeah if you're going to stop, just get some tablets and have half of one at the start of the day
[QUOTE=chaz13;42297787]Wait, do kids actually feel the need to consume caffeine daily to stay awake? [/quote] Yup. I saw it throughout high school, not to mention experiencing it first-hand. I didn't know a single kid that didn't need at least one can of coke in first block to stay awake, and I personally had to have 3-4 cans a day just to stay up the duration of school. If I ran out of caffiene I ran out of alertness within about 35 minutes, and within 90 I just fell over and snoozed whether I wanted to or not. Once I graduated high school and no longer had to be up that early in the day my need for caffiene plummetted and I went back to drinking one can a day solely because I liked the flavor.
This is the problem with having kids show up in class at 7:45 in the fucking morning. What's doubly asinine is that several studies have shown that kids respond better across the board if school starts at, say, 9:30. Better grades, better mood, better behavior, the lot.
[quote]How about getting a reasonable amount of sleep,[/quote]
You can have enough sleep, a social life, completing your homework and going to high school. Pick only two, because there aren't enough hours in the day for three or more.
[quote] doing some exercise[/quote]
You get plenty of that walking between classes. Besides exercise makes many people more tired.
[quote] and drinking some old water?[/quote] Water does not wake teenagers up. IT just makes them need to piss more.
I'm all for drinking coffee, but relying on it to stay awake is crazy.[/QUOTE]
Schools are run retarded anyway.
Lets shock a bunch of undeveloped teens out of their beds at 6-7AM to get dressed and fed and shuttled off to a very strange place where they are forced to attend and be subservient to a bunch of strangers they have never met before and have no obligation to, but are expected to act like they are their legal superiors, and cram 8 hours of knowledge into a brain that only uptakes about 2 of those hours realistically.
Then lets chuck in the drama and anxiety of young teens having to learn social dynamics at the same time with the school mentality developing cliques and social hierarchies.
Schools actually share a lot of similarities with the prison system, minus the violence.
Schools have been run like that for 50+ years, and somehow every time someone has proposed a more efficient way of doing things, it gets shut down under crab mentality. "If I had to do it, you should too!"
[QUOTE=jaegerisacunt;42301202]Schools are run retarded anyway.
Lets shock a bunch of undeveloped teens out of their beds at 6-7AM to get dressed and fed and shuttled off to a very strange place where they are forced to attend and be subservient to a bunch of strangers they have never met before and have no obligation to, but are expected to act like they are their legal superiors, and cram 8 hours of knowledge into a brain that only uptakes about 2 of those hours realistically.
Then lets chuck in the drama and anxiety of young teens having to learn social dynamics at the same time with the school mentality developing cliques and social hierarchies.
Schools actually share a lot of similarities with the prison system, minus the violence.
Schools have been run like that for 50+ years, and somehow every time someone has proposed a more efficient way of doing things, it gets shut down under crab mentality. "If I had to do it, you should too!"[/QUOTE]
I never had an issue getting up early for school. There's an extremely simple solution to it -
Go to bed early.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42301212]I never had an issue getting up early for school. There's an extremely simple solution to it -
Go to bed early.[/QUOTE]
There have actually been a lot of studies showing that starting school an hour later vastly improves academic performance
If you're getting up before the sun rises you're getting up too early
[QUOTE=jaegerisacunt;42301202]Schools are run retarded anyway.
Lets shock a bunch of undeveloped teens out of their beds at 6-7AM to get dressed and fed and shuttled off to a very strange place where they are forced to attend and be subservient to a bunch of strangers they have never met before and have no obligation to, but are expected to act like they are their legal superiors, and cram 8 hours of knowledge into a brain that only uptakes about 2 of those hours realistically.
Then lets chuck in the drama and anxiety of young teens having to learn social dynamics at the same time with the school mentality developing cliques and social hierarchies.
Schools actually share a lot of similarities with the prison system, minus the violence.
Schools have been run like that for 50+ years, and somehow every time someone has proposed a more efficient way of doing things, it gets shut down under crab mentality. "If I had to do it, you should too!"[/QUOTE]
I agree that schools are run in a way that's dated and ineffeccient, not only because of the time but also ask yourself, how many teachers did you ever have that really made a difference? The answer is usually somewhere between 2-5 and you've probably had tens maybe hundreds of teachers.
I think because schools have been "working" for so long and because once teens are old enough to vote they're already up in university/college or working they don't really need to care about school anymore.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42295022]Honestly, I've been trying to get off my caffeine addiction for about a year now to no avail. Quitting cold turkey is impossible, having tried it at least 6 times.
The migraines of going without for a while are just unbearable and I envy you not being addicted.[/QUOTE]
Just power through them, that's what I do.
Right now I'm getting pretty bad headaches from caffeine withdrawal if I don't have enough. Don't want to deal with them until after the uni semester is over so I'm simply feeding my addiction at the moment - second uni is over for the summer though I'm quitting cold turkey for 2 - 4 weeks and dealing with the headaches. It's what I always do when I get addicted to caffeine.
[QUOTE=Alxnotorious;42294632]Because (American) school require us to do way too much homework, and we can't go to bed at a healthy time.[/QUOTE]
You got to be joking buddy.
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;42301689]I agree that schools are run in a way that's dated and ineffeccient, not only because of the time but also ask yourself, how many teachers did you ever have that really made a difference? The answer is usually somewhere between 2-5 and you've probably had tens maybe hundreds of teachers.
I think because schools have been "working" for so long and because once teens are old enough to vote they're already up in university/college or working they don't really need to care about school anymore.[/QUOTE]
Its because a one size fits all system is difficult to implement.
[QUOTE=BreenIsALie;42294634]We Scandinavians need our coffee
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/HbnzLQW.png[/IMG]
I blame the cold and the dark during Winter[/QUOTE]
We drink coffee while doing our morning jog
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42301212]I never had an issue getting up early for school. There's an extremely simple solution to it -
Go to bed early.[/QUOTE]
It ain't always that easy. We have different chronotypes and somnotypes. You can slightly shift these for a certain period of time, but you will pay for it later.
[url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1270607&p=40658308&viewfull=1#post40658308]I wrote about the basics of sleep here. A bit further down there is a big post about dreaming and the different phases of sleep.[/url]
I drink coffee daily except on weekends, does that mean I'm still addicted?
I drink loads of pepsi and coca cola. Sometimes tea and coffee. I've taken in loads of caffeine for years.
I don't drink much soda if any at all (besides this one drink I've been drinking daily lately, it's more of a treat) but I drink coffee every morning. Not anything big, just a 7oz~ cup. Hopefully this doesn't apply to humans; I hate how whenever something is tested on rats and it has an effect, everyone automatically jumps to the conclusion that the brain reacts in the human body exactly the same.
Also, to how I read the article and how it was worded, the study affected rats deep sleep, so it sounds like it was before they had to sleep. I doubt the caffeine has an effect for that long if you drink it in the morning, although someone feel free to correct me on this.
For me, soda's are less of an addiction to caffeine than it is an addiction to the fizz. If I want caffeine, I'll drink tea, and even then I mostly drink it because I fucking love tea. I mostly drink tea now because more than just one can of soda will make me feel like shit.
I drink 1 or 2 redbulls every day. It's more expensive than smoking and I feel terrible all the time but I can't stop. I hope my brain is okay.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42301212]I never had an issue getting up early for school. There's an extremely simple solution to it -
Go to bed early.[/QUOTE]
yes because getting up early is the only issue I raised gj
[QUOTE=jaegerisacunt;42301202]Schools are run retarded anyway.
Lets shock a bunch of undeveloped teens out of their beds at 6-7AM to get dressed and fed and shuttled off to a very strange place where they are forced to attend and be subservient to a bunch of strangers they have never met before and have no obligation to, but are expected to act like they are their legal superiors, and cram 8 hours of knowledge into a brain that only uptakes about 2 of those hours realistically.
Then lets chuck in the drama and anxiety of young teens having to learn social dynamics at the same time with the school mentality developing cliques and social hierarchies.
Schools actually share a lot of similarities with the prison system, minus the violence.
Schools have been run like that for 50+ years, and somehow every time someone has proposed a more efficient way of doing things, it gets shut down under crab mentality. "If I had to do it, you should too!"[/QUOTE]
Indeed. Schools are demanding far too much out of kids and going about teaching them entirely the wrong way.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;42301212]I never had an issue getting up early for school. There's an extremely simple solution to it -
Go to bed early.[/QUOTE]
Doesn't work. You do that and you A: Don't have time to do much of the massive homework overload, and B: you won't have time for extra-curriculars and a social life.
I don't think you understand the insane time demands placed on teenagers. Simply going to bed early isn't an option.
[QUOTE=BreenIsALie;42294634]We Scandinavians need our coffee
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/HbnzLQW.png[/IMG]
I blame the cold and the dark during Winter[/QUOTE]
finland has like the highest (non asian) PISA scores so maybe drinking enough starts to reverse it
sounds good to me
[QUOTE=Epiclulz762;42294179]Last I read drinking coffee reduced states of depression and suicide, and now this[/QUOTE]
No, it didn't say that, it said there was a correlation between coffee drinkers and lower rates of depression. I'd be more willing to bet it's the other way around since coffee can make anxiety problems worse.
I am glad I almost never drink soda or coffee
Oh man, I started drinking coffee pretty early since it helped with my migraines.
And no, those were not caffeine withdrawals, since I even had them before I started drinking coffee.
And I never drank soda unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or something
[QUOTE=Kazumi;42301938]It ain't always that easy. We have different chronotypes and somnotypes. You can slightly shift these for a certain period of time, but you will pay for it later.
[url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1270607&p=40658308&viewfull=1#post40658308]I wrote about the basics of sleep here. A bit further down there is a big post about dreaming and the different phases of sleep.[/url][/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://www.jantoo.com/cartoons/lowres/165/16509000_low.jpg[/IMG]
[t]http://www.anekdots.com/docs/id_1331209_c1_do_it_asap.jpg[/t][t]http://opinionatedmiscellany.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/coffee_addict1.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=TestECull;42303339]
Doesn't work. You do that and you A: Don't have time to do much of the massive homework overload, and B: you won't have time for extra-curriculars and a social life.
I don't think you understand the insane time demands placed on teenagers. Simply going to bed early isn't an option.[/QUOTE]
Massive homework can be drilled through. Extra-curricular activities are a choice, not a must. And a social life is a luxury whether one likes it or not.
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