Caffeine

Caffeine Journal
-A four day study of self stimulation, assigned by my Psychology class.
11/18/2010
Today I was exhausted. I awoke early to an emotional phone call from my ex-husband, after three sleepless nights in a row with my baby. He is teething, but also he has been sick with a fever and vomiting. He hasn’t slept more than one hour and fifteen minutes at a time in the last few days and nights. Needless to say, my requirement for completing schoolwork does not let up at all during difficult family circumstances, and so I just have to pull myself up by my bootstraps and keep going. I was so sad today, from various aspects that are going drastically wrong in my relationship, and from recalling memories of my baby who died years ago (yesterday was the anniversary of her death day), that I didn’t quite feel like waking up. I allowed myself to remain in a fog through the morning, and didn’t choose to partake of caffeine. After driving my daughter to school, and feeling quite unsafe on the road due to my lack of alertness and mental clarity, I came home and drank some kombucha. It was about 8 ounces, and has 24 mg of caffeine. This helped me to take care of the baby in a reasonably lively manner, and get through most of the day, although I wasn’t feeling at all well adjusted. Later, after I put all of the children to bed, I made a weak cup of yerba mate tea, to help me stay awake to complete the dream forum post. I was careful to keep it weak so I wouldn’t get insomnia later. It was probably 30 mg of caffeine.

Total caffeine for the day: 54mg.

11/19/2010
It is Friday, and on this day every week, I work a volunteer shift, cashiering at the Grower’s Market, which is a great community place, as well as a source of very affordable natural food for my family. Today I woke up feeling even more exhausted and sad than I did yesterday. I was feeling really discouraged about my Psychology grade, my relationship issues were worse, the baby had again kept me up through 4AM, and I was in no mood to work with the public. I grabbed my trusty strawberry-kiwi kombucha tea from the fridge (I brew and ferment it myself, so it is a staple), a strawberry-kiwi fruited jar of it for breakfast, and drove myself to the market. Once there, I was happy that I had the 30mg of caffeine from the kombucha, because not only did I have to deal with the public, but the very young public. 17 little people and their parents were touring the Grower’s Market for a parent-child pre-school co-op field trip. I managed a plastic smile, gulped down my drink and rang up a lot of grapes, carrots and bananas. I got through the morning, did my shopping, returned home, nursed the baby, made lunch and begged the kid’s Dad to give me some study time. He did, so I brewed myself some hot chai tea with creamy, whole raw milk from the local farm that I love to buy my milk from, and honey. That probably contained about 47 mg, of caffeine. I hunkered down with my psychology book, and began reading so that I could be ready to compose the next forum post about drugs, despite great tiredness. After a couple of hours the kids returned. I tried again that night after children’s bed time, and ate a Rice Dream frozen bar with chocolate coating –probably equal to a quarter of a square of dark chocolate, so I’ll call it 5.5 mg of caffeine. This doesn’t keep me awake. It is just my current favorite treat that doesn’t have any refined sweeteners, which I am avoiding. I didn’t get very far with schoolwork, hopping up and down frequently because the baby just wouldn’t sleep for me (notice the reoccurring theme- if this was a dream, I’d have to call it symbolic). I ended up passing out in my uncomfortable clothing, and sleeping like that all night (left the living room lights and computer on and running, darn it!), because I just couldn’t drag myself up again, without waking him.

Total caffeine for the day: 82.5 mg.

11/20/2010
Saturday is a day bustling with kid activity. The house was a mess, because I had been neglecting it in an effort to keep up with school (not entirely effective, but a valiant and exhausting effort). Therefore, I kept breakfast and lunch simple: yogurt with fresh raspberries and hemp seeds, hibiscus-mint kombucha tea with 30 mg. of caffeine, and then tuna salad sandwiches with corn chips. I worked on the mountain of dirty dishes for a few hours between attending to the needs of all of the children. Finally around 3PM, I decided study time was dire enough to fork out money for childcare. I asked my eldest to baby-sit for a couple of hours, and took off to sit in peace at the Humble Bagel bakery, to try to finish reading a chapter of my textbook. I ordered a power muffin, baked full of protein, spirulina and other vegan goodness to nibble. I also decided on a steaming, frothy cup of Oregon Chai Latte. (Yes, I went for a rare, small dose of some beverage sweetened with dehydrated cane juice- this is the third time since August that I have not been perfectly disciplined on the sugar thing, but I generally do pretty well. Cold weather and moodiness is making it harder to abstain, lately, along with the general limitations of the bakery drink menu). Oregon Chai is listed with a caffeine content of 33mg. Later that evening, I found that I still craved my evening Rice Dream frozen treat, despite the earlier sugar intake. In fact it might have made the craving worse. So, the chocolate dipped deliciousness of it, qualified as another 5.5 mg. of caffeine. I stayed up until 2:30AM working on school projects, but managed to stay away from any further caffeine intake. After all, I do tend to know when enough is enough.

Total caffeine for the day: 68.5 mg.

11/21/2010
Sunday morning found me alone with two children instead of four, because the ten year old was off at a sleepover, the teenager was in bed until nearly noon, and the significant other (momentary questioning of the use of this term to describe him, in light of recent troubles and doubts, but left it for lack of a better term) was off meditating at the Zendo. The kitchen was actually navigable. I made a sizeable batch of gluten free raspberry-flax pancakes. Everyone in the family slowly trickled home and out of bed, by noon, and I went out for the afternoon with my son, to see a ballet at the Hult Center. We stopped at Capella market for some food-stampable “eating out”, before our ballet date, and I grabbed a bottle of Columbia Gorge Chocolate Protein Smoothie to fill my belly and keep my sleepy eyes alert for the performance. I should have done the same for the boy child, who had to be elbowed awake twice during the ballet after his previous sleepover. I don’t know how to rate the protein drink, but it is probably comparable to chocolate milk, so I will call it 7.5 mg. of caffeine. It did the trick, the ballet was a rare and wonderful escape , and a beautiful thing to behold. Later that evening, I drank some more Kombucha, this time the elderberry-lavender flavor, modestly loaded with 30 mg. of caffeine- I have quite the habit going, along with my usual Rice Dream treat, with it’s extra 5.5 mg. of caffeine.

Total caffeine for the day: 43 mg.

11/22/2010
Monday brought some angst around my plan to go visit my Psychology professor and ask about my grade and talk about some concerns. It is an online class, so having never met her, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t need any caffeine, as I was already jumpy from emotions. The meeting turned out well, as I had a better grade than I had previously been told, and had not missed anything. The day wore on uneventfully, and I took a few evening hours to review for my exam, and begin to type out this very journal. With a blueberry Kombucha (30 mg. caffeine) in one hand and a Rice Dream, chocolate coated treat (5.5 mg. caffeine) in the other, I tried to get serious about school. If you haven’t already guessed what happened next, you will not be surprised to hear that baby woke up continuously, with every attempt at productivity. I ended up laying beside him in bed, nursing by the light of my laptop computer at 3AM, in determination to get this assignment done, and be test ready. Low and behold, the baby won. He sat up awake, began to “help me type”, pushed the wrong button, shutting the whole machine down, and then continued to play and offer me smooches on the lips, which made me smile even at 3:30 in the morning. I gave up on schoolwork. I begrudgingly woke up at 7AM to attempt to pick up where I left off, but alas, guess whose eyes popped open? So now it is…
11/23/2010 yesterday I had a daily caffeine total of: 35.5 mg.
I am sitting at the table working on this journal, which is due today. Working all the way up to the deadline always makes me terribly anxious, but this time, I didn’t have a choice. I am ignoring all of my children who are home due to a snow day, which in Oregon means a light dusting on the ground and some icy road conditions (I used to live in Colorado, so I find this to be silly.) Although the kids are noisy and messy, they are thankfully entertaining each other for a while, so luckily I am able to half-focus on pumping this assignment out. Having just ingested a yummy cup of agave sweetened hot cocoa, at double the strength of commercial hot cocoa, I probably have about 10 mg. of caffeine in my system. I feel barely able to compute the thoughts that I am typing, partly thanks to the energy from some glorious sun that just began flooding the windows. I am guessing that the ice and snow is pretty nearly a recent memory by now, at only two o’clock in the afternoon. This is no Colorado, I must repeat. I doubt that this is the end of my caffeine intake today, because I haven’t had ANY kombucha yet, and the day is still young, with much studying remaining to be done. The testing lab is closed today because of the snow, which is good, because I wasn’t ready anyway. Better luck tomorrow, I hope.

The assignment inquired of me, Are you surprised (worried?) about how much caffeine you are ingesting? For comparison, a fatal dose is 5000mg in a short time, physical dependence begins at 350mg per day, and average consumption among undergraduates is 1068.5 mg/day. Writing this, I have been surprised at how consistently I consume caffeine. I really, rarely go a day without it. I know that there might be some negative health effects, such as exhausting of the adrenal glands, irritability, anxiety and mood disorders. I wonder if this is part of why I have been feeling low, lately. If so, it is a terrible cycle, because those low moods cause caffeine cravings, as well. I tend to use caffeine for brain clarity, but I now know that this is counterproductive. In fact, I was disturbed to read that caffeine can actually decrease blood flow to the brain. I might re-think the pre-test caffeine drink from now on. Caffeine is unhealthy for the immune system, which explains partly why college students seem to be continuously ill. I also did not previously know that caffeine can cause weight gain, due to a roller coaster of insulin levels in the body. It can prevent the absorption of nutrients, and cause a whole array of health problems. I also worry about how much caffeine makes it into my breast milk, which my baby drinks. So yes, I am a bit worried. Sadly, I am more surprised about the statistics of how much caffeine other students consume. I feel that my own intake is a little bit problematic, but I cannot imagine how a person could function with over 1000 mg. of caffeine in their bodies each day. My own average, according to this week’s sample of days, is only 48.9 mg., although that might be a hair low, because today is only calculated after a half day. I really don’t know why people feel that they need to maintain such a high caffeine intake. If I can manage all A’s in my classes while sleeping irregularly and parenting four children, on around 50 mg. a day, I think that the average student could do it on under 100 mg. for sure. I am blown away. Looking further at statistics, it turns out that the average adult in the US and Canada (not only students) consume just under 250 mg. This is better than the student average, but still, exceedingly high. I am thankful that I am conscious of my own caffeine consumption, and that I care about preventative health care. I am thankful as well, for what seemed once like a stroke of bad luck, but turned out to be a blessing. I am allergic to coffee. This fact alone, keeps me always seeking alternative cups of stimulation, that are often more health inducing and lower in caffeine content.

Information sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-caffeine-is-consumed-by-the-average-person.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Caffeine-Can-Affect-Your-Health&id=101557