6.24.05

The call of caffeine

I tried to stop drinking caffeine, I really did. For 3 days I didn't drink a drop, but then this morning, on only 5 hours sleep, I had a Snapple ice tea on the way to the train. That led to a can of Coke to help a little motion sickness in the car. Trouble. There are cases of the stuff in my parent's garage in CT which makes it far too easy and far to cheap (a.k.a. free, if you don't count the obligatory yard work) to indulge.

Of course, compared to coffee which I never drink (I just don't like the taste), coke and Snapple have only a third of the caffeine per serving, about 40mg each. So it's not like I drink a pot of joe a day like some people I know. The kind of people that can't wake up in the morning without it; Those people scare me.

This all started last weekend when I noticed myself drinking more Coke and Snapple than usual. I'm trying to figure if it causes the mood swings and headaches I often suffer from. The mood swings have been fairly constant part of my life for as long as I can remember, and bad tension headaches that become migraines rear their ugly head about once a week. I probably just need more exercise, but that's another discussion.

The results from the 3 days of non-scientific observation are these: I think caffeine is much like anti-depressants for me. That is, I felt less tired on average, but the times when I was really awake and working, I didn't feel like I was as attentive of got as much done.

So what's the moral of the story? I think that the results are inconclusive. But since I had a terrible headache on tuesday evening, I'm leaning toward not stopping myself from drinking a Snapple if that's what will make me happy. Life is far too short to put arbitrary boundaries on yourself. Anyone want a Coke while I'm in the kitchen?