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Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

nature.com

191–200 of 236 posts

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people should be able to do what they want with their time. I don’t think people should have to sell their labor for a wage in order to live. I wonder what happens to your opinions about caffeine in a society where owners have little to no leverage over workers, or where the workers are generally also the owners.

Ideally we would live in that utopia, but the vast majority of us live in the reality of needing a wage.

Yes, indeed. But that does not mean we cannot fight for that utopia.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#192
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Caffeine pills are an absurdity to me because I only drink coffee for the taste. Why suffer the unwanted effects of a drug without the enjoyment that it’s supposed to come with?

I think true coffee lovers like decaf (lets them drink more coffee) hard to get good decaf though, it seems to me like trying to buy diet donuts.

Decaf that tastes like caf would be great. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible. Or at least I haven’t found it yet. The standard processes used to remove the caffeine seem to also remove enough of the other compounds to make it noticeably more watery and thin.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#193
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you about the experience, but nobody who really likes coffee goes to Starbuck for the taste:-). They are really addicted

Starbucks is only a little worse than boutique coffee shops in my experience, but they are fast, conveniently located, open earlier, open later, pay their employees well (for a coffee shop) and pay for their employees' educations.

Their coffee is significantly worse tasting (especially if you drink it black, as I often do). With milk it’s perfectly acceptable, especially if you go for their ‘blonde’ roast.

I totally agree about opening times! Starbucks is often the only place open after 5 or so.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#194
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think you are bitting the dust of getting used to the taste of a drug, just like people who drink wine, beer etc. these are literally toxic & you get a natural avoidance response the 1° time you try, with very rare cases of acceptance without repulse

I never understood the acquired taste thing. If I don’t like the taste the first time I try something then there won’t be a second time. Why acquire a taste for something you didn’t originally like?

It’s like asking ‘why practice an instrument you can’t already play?’.

If you only try each thing once and give up, you’ll get stuck in a local flavour maximum.

Basically, what I’m saying is: it’s perfectly possible that the best experiences you can have are those that require a certain amount of less-pleasant experiences preceding them. You can stick with the medium-level experiences and you’ll never try anything bad twice, but you’ll also never discover things that might change your life.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#195
post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

It's interesting that coffee (black) is essentially perfect (mostly pros, few or no cons) yet there is a small crowd bent on demonizing it.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#196
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think true coffee lovers like decaf (lets them drink more coffee) hard to get good decaf though, it seems to me like trying to buy diet donuts.

Decaf that tastes like caf would be great. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible. Or at least I haven’t found it yet. The standard processes used to remove the caffeine seem to also remove enough of the other compounds to make it noticeably more watery and thin.

It’s possible, but very difficult.

The problem isn’t really the removal of compounds, as far as I can tell, but moreso the change to the bean composition itself. Because the porosity increases so much roasting the decaf beans is much more difficult. Additionally, beans grind differently due to their porosity and brittleness.

Basically, this means both the roaster and the grinder of the beans (and preparer of the coffee) need to change their behaviors slightly.

Then, at the end of it, the coffee stales much faster so it’ll go bad faster.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#197
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i think you are bitting the dust of getting used to the taste of a drug, just like people who drink wine, beer etc. these are literally toxic & you get a natural avoidance response the 1° time you try, with very rare cases of acceptance without repulse

I never understood the acquired taste thing. If I don’t like the taste the first time I try something then there won’t be a second time. Why acquire a taste for something you didn’t originally like?

Preparation of a dish, varietals, and many other things (such as setting, accompaniments, etc) can impact taste.

Just because you don’t like something one time doesn’t mean you wouldn’t in the future. You’d miss out on many great experiences this way.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#198
post #23
post #17

Recently I've learned that half of the people are slow caffein metabolizers. The caffein stays longer in their system and it might negatively affect their sleep. Considering how many people drink coffee, I think a lot of people are affected by this.

Yep - raising my hand here. I've completely given up caffeine (including decaf, which isn't totally) because after I got a Fitbit, I realised that my morning coffee spiked my heart-rate to 120, and kept it thereabouts, slowly dropping to normal overnight, after which I'd start again. A genome sequence shows I'm a slow metaboliser (I expect more will show up with more research). I feel terrific now.

Slow metaboliser here. Also possibly more prone to caffeine addiction than most, according to said genome sequencing interpretation.

I need to cap at 2 espressos per day before noon at most, or I start suffering side effects like poor sleep quality. People really need to reframe their coffee consumption from food to drug and understand their own usage and effects of said drug.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#199

Caffeine, up to a certain daily dose, is associated with long-term cognitive benefits and a reduced risk of dementia. This study hints that it specifically doesn't benefit gray matter volume during periods of sleep restriction, at least in the short term. I wonder if substances like Ashwagandha extract or Magnesium L-threonate could mitigate gray matter loss during short term sleep restriction among caffeine drinkers…

It seems more straightforward to simply curb caffeine consumption during periods where you're sleeping poorly. Most people (myself included in the past) would drink more coffee when they sleep less. Grey matter aside, I think this is a very poor strategy. It will make next night's sleep even less effective. Better to drink less coffee, have a shitty day/week, and sleep more restoratively as soon as you can. Don't get in a doom loop voluntarily. Have caffeine only when you're feeling well rested.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> caffeine addicts are standing in line at Starbucks Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Caffeine pills are an absurdity to me because I only drink coffee for the taste. Why suffer the unwanted effects of a drug without the enjoyment that it’s supposed to come with?

> Have you considered that those people queuing outside Starbucks might be drinking coffee because they enjoy the whole experience? Not the OP, but to respond to your question I think that Starbucks is actually hitting its customers with a triple-whammy of caffeine, sugar, and fat that most brains can't resist addiction to. Are you sure they actually enjoy Starbucks coffee and not its addictive components?

Are you implying that every Starbucks customer is buying a frappechino?
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