caffeine

Caffeine is easily America's most popular drug. It acts as a sleep inhibitor and a muscle relaxant, and while it is no substitute for sleep, it is a good way to stay awake for your first, last or most boring class. Care should be taken when timing one's caffeine intakes to avoid taking caffeine when one is about to sleep or when it isn't needed. The body quickly adapts to caffeine rendering it ineffective.



"Dune" by Frank Herbert describes caffeine as a anti-fatigue agent. It allows other elements of sleep deprivation to continue. With a high, low or moderate intake one still will find their reactions slowing, will see failure in their digestive tract and will otherwise be effected by their lack of sleep regardless of their caffeine intake.

The popularity of caffeine and its aparently benign effects have lead to many alternate vehicles for caffeine and even to caffeine themed paraphernalia. If one sees a T-shirt with a large organic molecule on it it is most likely caffeine. One of the most popular sites for these items is [|think geek]

There are many misconceptions about these vehicles. Use of "Nodoze" is frowned upon by people who believe that drinking of coffee is more healthy. In a way they are right. If one is taking caffeine in pill form, even if it is only the amount they can gain from a cup of coffee, they tend to loose track of the amount they are taking, and the knowledge allows them to moderate that intake, but it also gives them the benifit of the placebo effect. It is also true that when consumed in moderation, the acidic components of coffee are, at least in the short term less taxing on ones system. Long term effects on caffeine are mostly benificial when it is consumed in moderation, but moderation means a cup of coffee a day, not three espressos and a two liter Dr. Pepper.

If interested in the chemical effects of caffeine [|how stuff works] has a good description.

When using caffeine one ideally has a slow intake, about a 3rd of a cup of coffee an hour. Any faster than that loads your kidneys without any more effect. With the academy's rules on drink in the building, as long as one is consuming it by traditional methods this isn't possible and it must be taken in the morning and during lunch, in hopes it will keep you awake for whatever class you may find exhausting or otherwise a cause for sleep.

Some fast and easy ways to get caffeine while in BUA are: 1: The local Starbucks. If you like coffee, it's a slightly substandard Starbucks. 2: Soda. The GSU has plenty of wonderful soda. Such wonderful soda. Most of it is caffeine-free, so be careful. 3. JOLT GUM, a personal favorite of this editor's. Jolt Gum can be found at Camp Co, and as a personal testimony has gotten me through some wonderful sleep-deprived times. 4. Camp Co also has a cappuccino machine and some coffee and is much cheaper than starbucks 5. CVS has the cheapest soda with two litres costing about the same as 20 oz. bottles at Camp Co. Remember Barq's rootbeer is caffeinated. 6. For those less tolerant of caffeine, most of the Sobe offered at the GSU has ginseng in it, as well as a few of them that even have a small amount of caffeine. 7. ROCKSTAR


 * If you don't like coffee already, you will after a few weeks at BUA.**