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The case against caffeine

zantafakari.substack.com

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Re: The case against caffeine

#161

Post by thomasahle »

vinay_ys wrote: post #59

What we really know for sure is this – sleep is good, anxiety is bad. So, if you aren't getting good sleep, find ways to fix it. And if you are anxious all the time, find ways to fix it. By one tradition that's thousands of years old – Yoga+Pranayama+Meditation (linking physical/mental_movement+breadth) and fasting + eating moderately (eat only if you are hungry and eat enough to quench hunger, and eat 'satvik' food)…

> And it doesn't have the same impact on everyone's body.

I'm one of those that seem able to drink lots of coffee even at 6 or 8pm and still fall fast asleep.

I also don't feel any different during the day whether I drink it or not. Though I usually still drink it, for various reasons like taste, warmth and social aspects.

People always want to find simple universal dietary rules.

Re: The case against caffeine

#162

Post by slibhb »

simonsarris wrote: post #103

To add another anecdote: I drink minimum one small pot of coffee a day (a pour-over I make with my wife, 30g/450g beans/water), plus a moka pot or two in the afternoon, or a 15g pour-over. And 1-3 espresso shots if I go into the office. I consider the coffee experience positively euphoric. Almost spiritual. Certainly ritual. I would never give up the time of sitting with my wife for half an hour to an hour each morni…

I also enjoyed the ritual of coffee but stopped about a year ago due to sleep issues and anxiety.

As far as anxiety goes, I found it was a question of baseline. I'm normally even-keeled to a fault. But at that time, I was anxious (due to life circumstances) and coffee pushed me over the edge.

Sleep definitely improved and for that reason I don't think I'll ever restart caffeinated coffee. I may start looking around for good decaf beans at some point (if they exist).

Re: The case against caffeine

#163

Post by hiq »

dilap wrote: post #13
swader999 wrote: post #4

High amounts shrink the brain, increase dementia risk. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1028415X.2021.19... And very few people drink 1-2 cups. The travel mugs and typical coffee place cups are close to this danger range.

On the other hand, we have Erdős: "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems."

Coffee and amphetamines I guess.

Re: The case against caffeine

#164

Post by zhivota »

LexLeeter wrote: post #22
swader999 wrote: post #4

High amounts shrink the brain, increase dementia risk. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1028415X.2021.19... And very few people drink 1-2 cups. The travel mugs and typical coffee place cups are close to this danger range.

6 cups a day is 48 oz of coffee. A travel mug and venti is 20oz. I don't know anyone who drinks more than 2 of those in a day. Stop the hyperbole.

Some Starbucks orders can compress 4 cups of coffee into one. The MG of caffeine in one of the larger orders can be enormous.

Re: The case against caffeine

#165

Post by jp57 »

I think this is a good context to remind people that there isn't One True Way™ when it comes to our bodies, metabolisms, brains, etc.

I quite believe that for many people using a lot of caffeine increases their anxiety and reduces their ability to function. I'm not one of those people. I use quite a lot of caffeine and have very little anxiety and no trouble sleeping. I am, if anything, anti-anxious. I suspect my personality type would make a great fighter pilot or air-traffic controller. (I myself would probably be bad at both those jobs, but not because of the anxiety.)

So I'd say IF you have chronic anxiety problems or you are having sleep problems, and you use a lot of caffeine, it's probably worth quitting or cutting down the caffeine to see if that helps.

Re: The case against caffeine

#166

Post by CuriouslyC »

awongh wrote: post #144
simonsarris wrote: post #103

To add another anecdote: I drink minimum one small pot of coffee a day (a pour-over I make with my wife, 30g/450g beans/water), plus a moka pot or two in the afternoon, or a 15g pour-over. And 1-3 espresso shots if I go into the office. I consider the coffee experience positively euphoric. Almost spiritual. Certainly ritual. I would never give up the time of sitting with my wife for half an hour to an hour each morni…

What’s funny to me is the degree to which i perceive people’s denial that caffeine and coffee get you incredibly high. I’m not sure if this is what you exactly meant by euphoric, but I sometimes experience similar things, and I find it funny that “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my cup of coffee” is a negatively phrased statement of “I’m gonna get high on caffeine then I’ll enjoy this conversation more”- as if societ…

That's not an accurate characterization. Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee is as much a statement about morning low body temperature/thirst and morning ritual as it is about caffeine addiction. There's a reason that warm showers in the morning wake you up and invigorate you. Plus coffee is delicious.

Re: The case against caffeine

#167

Post by ydant »

pryelluw wrote: post #6
debt wrote: post #3

If you're going to drink decaf, be sure to drink decaf prepared via the Swiss water method. It has the least additives, healthiest option and tastes pretty good.

May you share some brands that follow such method ?

I'll take this opportunity to plug an instant decaf that recent surprised me (very pleasantly). Our hotel offered this for free in the lobby on a recent trip and I ended up buying some for travel purposes.

https://treelinecoffee.com/collections/on-the-go/products/in...

It's a swiss water method decaf instant that rivals some of the best cafe regular coffees I've had.

At stores/roasters, most will tell you the decaffeination method somewhere on the bag. If they don't it's probably not a brand that cares much about their decaf, so skip it. Make sure you go for as close to roast as possible - decaf goes off a lot quicker than regular coffee.

Re: The case against caffeine

#168

Post by [deleted] »

narrator wrote: post #116
swader999 wrote: post #4

High amounts shrink the brain, increase dementia risk. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1028415X.2021.19... And very few people drink 1-2 cups. The travel mugs and typical coffee place cups are close to this danger range.

"The association between coffee consumption and dementia was non-linear (Pnon-linearity = 0.0001), with evidence for higher odds for non-coffee and decaffeinated coffee drinkers and those drinking >6 cups/day , compared to light coffee drinkers" So, reading the study, not drinking coffee is bad and drinking more than 6 cups a day is bad too.

[deleted]

Re: The case against caffeine

#170

Post by eragone »

thesz wrote: post #145
vinay_ys wrote: post #59

What we really know for sure is this – sleep is good, anxiety is bad. So, if you aren't getting good sleep, find ways to fix it. And if you are anxious all the time, find ways to fix it. By one tradition that's thousands of years old – Yoga+Pranayama+Meditation (linking physical/mental_movement+breadth) and fasting + eating moderately (eat only if you are hungry and eat enough to quench hunger, and eat 'satvik' food)…

> sleep is good, anxiety is bad. Sleep is not all good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersomnia Anxiety is not all bad: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/43757 Sattvic food is not good for your health: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37085478/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35710164/

I think any reasonable interpretation of the comment you’re replying to is not “sleep is always good” but rather “sleep is good, on the whole”, which is absolutely true.

Both studies you linked indicate correlation not causation

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