Caffeine

Lets Quickly Discuss Nicotine First (a common partner of caffeine)
I had some long diatribe about smoking written here, but decided to delete it. It’s this simple:

To those who smoke cigarettes and opt not to take measures to stop,
most of the information in this website can’t help you.

It can only be hoped you’ll have a philosophic epiphany and simply quit the smoking ‘cold-turkey’ much like I did in October 1985. Your alternative is self-induced pain, stench, social disdain and slow, but sure early death. NOTE: Smoking Cuban or other high-quality cigars once a year or so is something I personally enjoy and don’t believe it impacts my good health to any appreciable degree either way. Cigarette smoking diminishes the facial features, weakens the senses, and is detrimental to infants or anyone else even near a lit cigarette.

Caffeine
The very second I begin to talk about the dangers of Caffeine, I notice terror on many faces in the audience. While caffeine is the second most 'popular' commodity (behind crude oil) known on earth, warning against ingesting it is everything but popular. However, if I were to use popularity as criteria when selecting what information to expose, I'd be breaking a very important promise. Point being: You can embrace any wonderfully crafted reason to ingest caffeine and append that belief with an equally subjective conclusion about how it really doesn't hurt you. But sooner or later you'll find ingesting caffeine (much like other drugs) hands your bodily regulatory systems over to a product that has no mind, no steering wheel, and no brakes.

Since the 1980’s, it has been good to see a focused national campaign develop against cigarette smoking. By 2020 I expect and hope caffeine ingestion will begin to suffer a similar fate. It’s a terrible substance to ingest. As with cigarette smoking, it’s this simple:

To those who regularly ingest caffeinated products and opt not to eliminate caffeine from their diet,
health improvements gained by information provided at reactivateyourself.com will either be short-lived or not occur at all.

Severe Reaction
Think about this: If you stopped drinking orange juice or stopped eating head lettuce, what immediate impact would that have on you? ... probably nothing. Now ask yourself that same question about caffeine. As you probably well know, your body could have severe reactions. That alone should be a crystal clear indicator there is something ominous about caffeine.

Regular caffeine intake may be leading you to adrenal gland malfunction and possibly complete adrenal failure. Please stay with me here ... you might be saying to yourself, ‘if caffeine is so bad for me, why is everybody drinking it and they seem to be okay?' I'm here to tell you they are not okay and that (as stated) I believe all caffeinated products could soon come with WARNING labels, much like those you see on packs of cigarettes.

Meet Your Adrenal Glands
Let's go over what the adrenal glands are and what they do for us .. then we'll look at what regular doses of caffeine do to us. From there, draw your own conclusions.

Okay, there are two parts to the triangular-shaped adrenal glands about the size of a thumb. They are located atop each kidney. The first part of the adrenal gland is the adrenal cortex which produces three things: 1.mineralocorticoids which regulate body fluids; 2.glucocorticoids which mediate the effects of stress and suppress inflammation, and; 3.sex hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. The other part of the adrenal gland is the adrenal medulla produces epinephrine and norepinephrine, which help to regulate energy and help us deal with stress.

Counterfeit Energy - You Lose
So here's how caffeine fools the adrenal glands and the terrible result it leaves in it's wake. As we tire, adenosine levels rise and bind to receptors in the brain instructing our cells to slow down. It's a natural tranquilizer. Caffeine's structure is much like adenosine and it binds easily with those receptors, however, it gives the opposite instructions, instead of slowing-down, it speeds up the cell's activity. This change in activity triggers the adrenal gland to release hormones via instruction from the pituitary gland which thinks there must be some stress going on. That's why coffee seems to make you more alert.

After the effect of caffeine has worn off, you'll feel more exhausted than before you drank that cup of coffee. Feeling worn down, you drink another cup to pep you up not knowing you are stressing out your adrenal glands. Over time, the adrenal glands become exhausted and confused (so to speak) leading to adrenal fatigue (see below). -- http://neutral-izer.blogspot.com/2007/09/adrenal-fatigue-caused-by-caffeine.html

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin Medical School, in St. James's Hospital, Ireland have discovered that the adrenal glands of those suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome were reduced in size by over 50%. -- http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=990

Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue, also known as adrenal insufficiency or adrenal exhaustion is one of the main causes of fatigue, weakness, low blood pressure, moodiness, dry skin, poor memory, poor circulation, hypoglycemia or diabetes, poor immune system, cravings for sugar and salt, brittle nails, a feeling of being driven, and anxiousness.

If you are concerned that you might be suffering from adrenal fatigue you could do the following self-test. First, lie down and rest for 5 minutes and while you are still laying down, have your blood pressure taken. Record the result. Then stand up and immediately have your blood pressure taken again. If your 'standing' blood pressure is lower than your ‘laying' blood pressure, you probably suffer from adrenal exhaustion. Consult your health care professional.

Caffeine & Weight Gain
Caffeine is often an ingredient in weight-loss formulas. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it is thought that it enhances fat metabolism and encourages weight loss. Many people believe their daily mug of coffee or other caffeinated drink helps them to lose weight or keep weight off. However, the diuretic effect of caffeine is what appears to create weight loss, and this causes loss of water, not fat. Reputable practitioners, like the Mayo Clinic, debunk the myth of caffeine for weight loss & discourage its use as a weight loss aid.₃

Caffeine intake often perpetuates many of the factors contributing to weight gain and continued obesity. Coffee and caffeine intake aggravates stress, including physical, mental, and emotional stress, leading to increased levels of the gluco-corticoids including cortisol. A well documented relationship exists between chronically elevated levels of these stress hormones and deposition of excess fat in the abdomen leading to obesity  as well as increased caloric intake...  particularly increased ingestion of fats and sugars.₄

What Exactly Happens if I Stop?
Of all the dietary habits that people find difficult to change, coffee drinking is one of the most challenging because it is so entrenched in cultural habits and caffeine addiction.₅ Withdrawal symptoms can involve painful headaches, depression, fatigue and anxiety._{6, 7}

In a 2005 National Geographic article regarding caffeine addiction and withdrawal, Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland stated, "13% of people had clinically significant distress or functional impairment such as missing work, canceling social functions, and going to bed with the belief that they had the flu." The research indicated the onset of symptoms occurred within 12 to 24 hours after stopping caffeine intake. Peak unpleasantness occurred within the first two days, but other symptoms could continue for as long as nine days.

Having both a satisfying alternative and a method to slowly decrease caffeine intake will help reduce withdrawal symptoms. Please don't let the caffeine information intimidate you .. simply meet it head on and do what it takes to put the caffeine behind you. Certainly, that's much easier said than done, but it is absolutely doable.

What are You Going to Do Now?
Now that you've had a few moments to think about the realities of giving up the regular doses of caffeine, have I lost you? I'd say the caffeine issue and step 15 of the 20 Steps to Vibrant are two of the most significant steps to take ... these side bars are here because I don't want you to give up. Imagine the feeling you'd have after a physician handed you a piece of paper that said you were to immediately start taking blood pressure pills until further notice or that you were diabetic or even worse, cancerous. And who is going to pay for those ongoing expenses? Employers and the government are looking for ways to insulate themselves from such costs.

If you are "happy in the herd" (so to speak) and have no intention of doing what it takes to wean yourself off the regular doses of caffeine and/or nicotine and/or undesirable sugars, simply use this paragraph as a reminder to check your medicine cabinet for proper levels of pain (and other) medication. No offense and I don't mean to sound insensitive, it's simply irresponsible for me to purport reactivateyourself.com can provide you a platform by which you (assuming you are in a salvageable state) can maintain vibrant health. Remember, each one of our body's 16 systems depends on the other. The adrenal glands are part of the endocrine system described in, "What Went Wrong?"

3. Mayo Clinic Foundation for Medical Education and Research. May 27, 2003.
4. Bjorntorp, P. 2001. Do stress reactions cause abdominal obesity and comorbidities? Obesity Reviews. 2(2):73-86.
5. Braun, S. Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine. Copyright 1996.
6. Strain, E.C., G.K. Mumford, K. Silverman, and R.R. Griffiths. 1994. Caffeine dependence syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272:1043-1048.
7. Silverman, K., Evans, S.M., Strain, E.C. and Griffiths, R.R. 1992 Withdrawal Syndrome after the Double-Blind Cessation of Caffeine Consumption. The New England Journal of Medicine. 16(327): 1109-14.

CaffeineAwareness.org
	VIDEO provided by CaffeineAwareness.org	Take the  caffeine QUIZ