Do you rely on your caffeine kicks to get you through the day?

Whilst caffeine is known to boost cognitive efficiency in the short-term, research often neglects caffeine habits. New research from the John Hopkins Medical School shows that “performance increases due to caffeine intake are the result of caffeine drinkers experiencing a short-term reversal of caffeine withdrawal.”

So in short, absence of caffeine for regular drinkers sees a drop in cognitive performance and has a negative impact on mood. Drinkers take to another cup of coffee to reach giddy heights but it is in fact just bringing thier performance back to normal for a short period of time.

“By controlling for caffeine use in study participants, John Hopkins researchers found that caffeine-related performance improvement is nonexistent without caffeine withdrawal.”

The adrenaline surge associated with caffeine intake leads to physiological affects including high blood pressure, stimulating heart rate and shallow breathing. These effects have been linked to a diminished emotional intelligence. 

Caffeine stays in your bloodstream for much longer than you may imagine; it takes a full 24 hours. A cup of coffee at 8am will mean there is still 25% of the coffee in your body at 8pm.

For more on the story: http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2012/08/21/caffeine-the-sile...