Jan
30
For most of last year, I was caffeine free. I had kicked the caffiene habit back in 2006 and I stuck to my guns most of the way through 2007. However, towards the end of 2007, I decided to see if I could use caffeine as a substitute for my sugar cravings. I would drink an occasional diet coke if I felt the urge to snack on chocolate or candy bars. This seemed to be working and I thought I had things under control. Unfortunately, my recent surge of travel has tossed all that out the window.With the time zone changes, the constant meetings, endless restaurant meals and an expense account that makes little things like sodas seem meaningless, my caffeine habit has grown from a controlled experiment into an out of control issue. Now if you read the title of this post, you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with drug addiction. The fact is that caffeine is a drug. It is a stimulant and you can in fact get addicted to it. Unfortunately, most people refuse to believe that. Tell them that they’re addicted to caffeine and they’ll say “no way! I just need that morning coffee to get out of bed.” Well, I am addicted to caffeine.
So What?
The first question is, so what? So what if I need/want/crave caffeine? Is that bad? And the answer is, absolutely. There are a variety of ways in which caffeine harms your life. They range from physical to financial to a few less tangible. Let’s start with health.
Health Impact of Caffeine
Here’s a list of potential side effects of caffeine taken from the University of Columbia’s health information site.
- Osteoporosis
- Birth defects
- Miscarriages
- Infertility
- Cancers
- High blood pressure
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
- Ulcers and heartburn
- Fibrocystic breast disease
- Heart disease
That’s right, caffiene can increase your chance of all of these conditions. Sure, it’s not as bad as smoking, but it’s pretty bad.
Financial Impact of Caffeine
Want an extra million dollars when you retire? Take a look at the Latte Factor. It’s a term that’s been bounced around quite a bit in the personal finance side of the internet. It essentially says that cutting out small expenses can have a huge impact on your overall financial health. Here’s a link with more information.
Because most of the past few week’s travel was for business, I kept all my receipts and added them up when I did my expense reports. A quick check showed that the latte factor was absolutely accurate. In fact, it seemed to be underestimating things. On average, I spent about $6.50 EVERY DAY on caffeinated drinks. By the way, I don’t drink coffee, so all of this money is being spent on relatively cheap sodas. I can only imagine the daily caffeine bill of someone who likes high priced Starbuck’s lattes.
The Intangible Effects
Didn’t have enough caffeine this morning? You’re going to experience:
- sleepiness
- feeling overtired (from not having had any caffeine to energize you)
- a terrible headache (when you abruptly stop having caffeine regularly)
From the University of Columbia’s health information site
- anxious
- excitable
- restless
- dizzy
- irritable
- unable to concentrate
- gastrointestinal (GI) aches
- headaches that don’t seem to go away
- trouble with sleeping
From the University of Columbia’s health information site
Worried about the environment? That drink container has an impact.
- The amount of glass bottles Americans throw away every two weeks would have filled both World Trade Center towers.
- Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all our nation’s automakers every day.
- Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.
From the Clean Air Council
Bottom Line
Every time you pick up a can of soda or a cup of coffee, you are making a decision to pay money in return for destroying your health and the environment around you. What kind of a decision is that? To me, it’s a choice I’m no longer willing to make. My little experiment became something much worse and I have no desire to keep going. So as of today, it’s no more caffeine for me. I’ll take the pain of withdrawal for the next few days. In the end, it’ll be worth it.
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Comments
7 Responses to “Addicted To Drugs”
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You’ve picked up some really interesting comparisons and references in this article. Quite an eye-opener!
I’m not a caffein addict and I never enjoy drink coffee.I do not know why, but everytime I drink it, my heart bit faster and I get cold sweating. After read your post, I think I have to thank for this:)
wow! after reading that, I was trying to think what advantages there were to caffeine. What would the caffeine industry talking heads come back with?
Hi Steph,
Well, the advantages are that it makes you feel good, at least for a while, which is why people consume it. That’s pretty much the case for any drug. I’m guessing if you ask most drug addicts why they use drugs, they won’t mention the bad side effects, they’ll just talk about the highs.
If people are willing to accept the damage to their health, wallet and environment in return for the temporary high, be my guest. I’m all for informed adults making their own decisions on how to live their lives. I just want people to be aware that caffeine is a drug, it is addictive and it is harmful.
Gal
[...] is actually an older article, but since we talked about caffeine this week, I thought you might find this Duke University study about the links between caffeine and diabetes [...]
I’m in the process of kicking the caffeine addiction as well. While some can be beneficial to some people, I can tell that my body doesn’t like it. It hasn’t been easy but I think it’s worth it considering all of the potential risks. I’m finding a lot of good drink options for when I really want something a bit more flavorful than water or water with lemon. My newest find is Tava- no calories or caffeine. Hopefully even more choices will start coming out as this caffeine-free trend grows!
Hi Jane,
I’ve been using those caffeine free choices for now. My new favorite is diet sprite, which is pretty much carbonated water with a few extra chemicals. However, my end goal is to kick this habit completely and just drink water. I don’t need flavor in my drinks.
Gal