LogicSoDeveloped
Bluelighter
What is your favourite performance enhancing drug?
Whether you work at home or in a sky-high office block in the city, chances are your answer was caffeine.
Caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive drug and has similar pharmacological effects on the body as many illegal substances we associate with doing harm.
“When I go to the gym I don’t perspire, I actually percolate,” said my client Bob when I asked him how his fitness program was going. Two months earlier Bob had approached me after I spoke at a real estate conference and asked if I could help him to get healthy again. “I drink between 25 to 30 cups of coffee a day.” he admitted.
Yes, caffeine in its many guises is a drug and Bob is what I call an executive drug addict. Are you? To determine if you suffer from caffeine addiction, ask yourself the following questions.
1. Do you have to drink coffee to kick-start every day?
2. Do you regularly rely on coffee/caffeinated drinks to boost energy throughout the day?
3. When you miss your daily caffeine intake, do you develop a headache?
4. Do you get anxiety, mood swings and feel irritable when you drink too much or too little caffeine?
5. Do you drink more than 300mg (two to three cups) of coffee a day?
6. Do all the employees at your local coffee shop know your name and everything about you?
If you answered YES to three or more of the above questions, it’s a safe bet that you’re a caffeine addict.
Now before you fire up and feel the urge to throw your freshly brewed cappuccino or piccolo in my face – let me present both sides of the caffeine equation.
A 2010 study by the Mayo Clinic suggests that caffeine in moderation does have some positive effects and can protect against Parkinson disease, Type 2 diabetes and liver cancer. And 2011 research presented in The Journal of Physical Chemistry highlights that caffeine is one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants that may help to protect from Alzheimers.
But our ‘caffeine culture’ is increasingly being used as the glue to build relationships and meeting up for a coffee has become part of the corporate mantra. More and more people catch up for a coffee in place of going to the pub for a few schooners, and lycra-clad cyclists spend hours talking about how good they could have been over a latte or two following the morning ride.
For most people caffeine in moderation is fine, and moderation is generally accepted as less than 300mg a day. (Refer to the chart at the end to work out how much caffeine you consume per day)
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/executive-sty...rug-addicts-20111130-1o6e2.html#ixzz1fnOhebkj
