Coffee: Eye Opener or Brain Killer

I have to admit, I am addicted to coffee. But 1 out of 2 of my friends are on coffee everyday. Be it a caramel machiato, nanyang memorably or a simple nescafe, I had to take 1 cup every morning to keep me alive. I can skip breakfast, but not this. Everyday, I took an average of 2 cups of coffee. It started to sound like cigarette already.

I started to drink coffee during my secondary school age. I remembered it was an Indocafe. The taste was very bitter but still nice. My favorite cup? 1 teaspoon of coffee + 3 teaspoon of Milo + sugar. Yummy! Now I still drink this way, only without sugar. They called it mocha, but I prefer to called it Neslo.

So does coffee do you any harm? We have to look at it at 2 angles: dependence and intoxication. Not surprisingly, coffee can cause dependence, but surprisingly, it causes only psychological dependence. There was once I was on Atkin's diet. They recommend the users to stop coffee. So I did. First of all, I know if I am off coffee, there will be severe, head crushing, brain-burning headache. I will be a total useless junk. So I pick a time where I don't need my brain: holiday. And next thing I need is lots of paracetamol. So, I went through hell for the first 2 days. gradually, on the 3rd day. the withdrawal became much better. On the 4th, I can function partially and the next day, I can do my usual things again! Furthermore, I felt much better, more alert when I am off coffee than when I am on. Unfortunately, when I had stress for exam, the coffee drinking habit comes again and I am hooked till now.

The other aspect is intoxication. Believe it or not, some of you all actually drink until you get light-headedness. This is part of the intoxication symptoms. Others are feeling your heartbeat beating too fast, sleepless, restless, increase the frequency to go to toilet and abdominal organ upsets. There is no specific intoxication level. Some can take 5 cups without symptoms but some will have symptoms even before reaching the bottom of the first cup. It is usually dependent on the age. Younger than 35 years (like me!) will usually not suffer from intoxication.

Do you need treatment for caffeine dependence? Personally, if it does not bothers you, why bothers? Seek help if you think it affects your function.