Caffeine lowers the level of conscious awareness. In some cases that's a good thing. Not always though. Caffeine inhibits creative thinking. So far this year, I average about one cup of coffee a week. When I fix coffee at work, I make cocoa-coffee since my office is stocked with Swiss Miss packets and bad tasting coffee. I started this trend because coffee was just as readily available as hot water, and the flavors blend well. Now I've cut back to half coffee, have hot water with my cocoa, and it tastes about the same.
Lately, I've been trying to up my work output. I tried doing this before by increasing my overall energy level through healthy diet, regular exercise, and the occasional extra nap. However, the stress at work is too overwhelming for natural cures. A couple weeks ago, I tried to jump start my Monday with two full-blast cocoa coffees. Not only did that make me nauseous and cranky, but it also kicked off another polyphasic sleep trial. The trial didn't last since I don't drink caffeine when I follow that schedule. The lack of sleep eventually counteracts the motivation that inspires it. That, and I run out of things to do at night since I am not very creative during those hours. This week I tried half-coffee cocoa, and the headaches and nausea returned.
The benefit I get from caffeine is a couple hours of mindless drone mode in which I can do really boring tasks without being annoyed by how annoyingly boring they are. Even after the euphoria is gone, and I'm left with headaches that make me want to tear people's heads off, I am still in mindless drone mode due to the inertia of having done the same thing all morning. This makes task switching very difficult. Meetings are also not a good idea at this time because I'm more likely to tune everyone out and keep doing whatever I was already doing. I get really impatient with people for stopping me and treat them like imbeciles for asking me questions so ridiculously obvious that I can explain it in one cynical, sarcastic response. If I have more coffee after lunch, it doesn't usually give any more energy, but it does make me more nauseous and cranky. By the end of the day, I am really rude and callous which causes problems with socializing with friends and family.
When I was going to college for my computer science degree, I was seriously addicted to Mountain Dew. There was a vending machine in the computer science department which had a whole row of the green-bottled go-juice. In fact, one of my classes (Database with Relational Algebra) was so stressful due to tests that would take upwards of seven hours to complete, I would come in early with a two-liter of Mountain Dew to study, and by the end of the day, I would have finished that and had one or two twenty ounce bottles from the vending machine. Hmm, how much of that class do I remember? Not a lot. I also did really terrible in all my other classes because I was too tired to do the homework or study.
It had not really occurred to me until after going for several months with minimal caffeine that using caffeine to further my career only creates a codependent link between a successful career and bad health.
No comments:
Post a Comment