Veritably, Great Souls can afford to Experiment with Truth. But lesser mortals like me have to settle for more mundane things such as experimenting with coffee. I cannot access the philosophical realms of my mind, wherein lies the key to greater pursuits of human life. So, I have resigned myself to talk about a more trivial matter i.e. of my mad-scientist-like experiments with coffee. You might be a tad bit curious to know why coffee? The answer to this lies in the climatic conditions prevailing in my immediate neighborhood and the constant stream of 'You always look tired' comments.
Having heard and had enough of these lamentations about my perennial somniacal countenance, I decided to research on ways to keep myself alert and active. And guess what? The first thing I stumbled upon in my literature review - Coffee. Before going any further into my description of the problem statement, I should give you a background of my caffeine habits. As with everything else, there is a long history.
I don't quite remember when I had my first cup of coffee. What I do know is that there were two sparring groups in my house, the Caffeine Democrats and the Lactose Republicans. The former favored passing the law to introduce coffee into my system while the latter opposed such a move vehemently. Both sides had valid points to merit their case. For instance, the Caffeine Democrats argued saying, "Only cats drink milk". The Republicans were not left far behind, they countered with a reply, "Cats don't drink chocolate milk". The strength of the Republican's prevailed for a long time. Then came the mantra, "Change" and "Yes, we can". I wanted a change too. So I started favoring the Democrats and thus the law for "Caffeine in Sumanth's veins" came into existence. By then I was in junior college and the Republicans deemed me fit for coffee anyway !
Suffice to say, coffee was not by any means a significant contributor to my body's activity quotient. Now that I look back, I wonder if it was just coincidence that even then I was commented upon for having a lethargic and droopy appearance. Anyway, coming back to the description of the present malaise, the effect of a hill station climate coupled with my usual lazy, easy going attitude were earning me more accolades than the amount deemed decent. So I decided to do something to boost my activity levels. Having read a great deal about the merits of coffee for doing exactly this, I hit upon a plan to experiment with coffee. Instead of the occasional coffee, I started having 4 cups each day. Here is the gist of the results obtained so far:
Effect on Circadian Rhythm: For the uninitiated ones, circadian (circa-cycle; diem-day) refers to the daily biological cycle of the human body. There is a marked difference in my routine. Caffeine's effect seems to linger on for about 3 hours post intake time. I don't feel drowsy and there is clarity in my understanding. A few hours after my last cup, I feel extremely sleepy and drop dead asleep. My sleep is marked by more intense and deep sleep. I have little recall of my movements in sleep (something i remembered earlier)
Effect on reaction time: My reaction time shows improvement as measured in my TT games after a coffee. I can anticipate the ball path quicker although i still suck at TT in general :). During the post coffee period, I feel alert and experience higher levels of awareness of the surrounding environment. Concentration is higher in the usual office tasks.
There are a host of secondary effects as well which i shall reserve for another time. In the overall sense coffee seems to be showing positive effects. The next steps would be to study the "Reaction kinetics and post withdrawal symptoms pertaining to caffeine inhibition" :)
Having heard and had enough of these lamentations about my perennial somniacal countenance, I decided to research on ways to keep myself alert and active. And guess what? The first thing I stumbled upon in my literature review - Coffee. Before going any further into my description of the problem statement, I should give you a background of my caffeine habits. As with everything else, there is a long history.
I don't quite remember when I had my first cup of coffee. What I do know is that there were two sparring groups in my house, the Caffeine Democrats and the Lactose Republicans. The former favored passing the law to introduce coffee into my system while the latter opposed such a move vehemently. Both sides had valid points to merit their case. For instance, the Caffeine Democrats argued saying, "Only cats drink milk". The Republicans were not left far behind, they countered with a reply, "Cats don't drink chocolate milk". The strength of the Republican's prevailed for a long time. Then came the mantra, "Change" and "Yes, we can". I wanted a change too. So I started favoring the Democrats and thus the law for "Caffeine in Sumanth's veins" came into existence. By then I was in junior college and the Republicans deemed me fit for coffee anyway !
Suffice to say, coffee was not by any means a significant contributor to my body's activity quotient. Now that I look back, I wonder if it was just coincidence that even then I was commented upon for having a lethargic and droopy appearance. Anyway, coming back to the description of the present malaise, the effect of a hill station climate coupled with my usual lazy, easy going attitude were earning me more accolades than the amount deemed decent. So I decided to do something to boost my activity levels. Having read a great deal about the merits of coffee for doing exactly this, I hit upon a plan to experiment with coffee. Instead of the occasional coffee, I started having 4 cups each day. Here is the gist of the results obtained so far:
Effect on Circadian Rhythm: For the uninitiated ones, circadian (circa-cycle; diem-day) refers to the daily biological cycle of the human body. There is a marked difference in my routine. Caffeine's effect seems to linger on for about 3 hours post intake time. I don't feel drowsy and there is clarity in my understanding. A few hours after my last cup, I feel extremely sleepy and drop dead asleep. My sleep is marked by more intense and deep sleep. I have little recall of my movements in sleep (something i remembered earlier)
Effect on reaction time: My reaction time shows improvement as measured in my TT games after a coffee. I can anticipate the ball path quicker although i still suck at TT in general :). During the post coffee period, I feel alert and experience higher levels of awareness of the surrounding environment. Concentration is higher in the usual office tasks.
There are a host of secondary effects as well which i shall reserve for another time. In the overall sense coffee seems to be showing positive effects. The next steps would be to study the "Reaction kinetics and post withdrawal symptoms pertaining to caffeine inhibition" :)
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