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With
long hours at the workplace being the in thing, coffee machines in
the offices are no longer an exception. The cuppa apart
from being a break -time favorite has, over the past few years,
become a necessary accompaniment to official meetings and chat
sessions. Many a times a quick sip not only helps you to crack the
knottiest of audit jumbles but also gain confidence before facing
the boss after an awful goof-up. True, but it is good only as long
as it lasts. What happens later is cause enough for worry.
While a cup of coffee apparently stimulates your senses, a regular
in take of caffeine can leave you a complete wreck.
This is because coffee simply stimulates the central nervous
system, increases he stress hormones in the blood streams, thus
making a person feel unnaturally alert. Consequently induced alert
state tends to subdue your body's natural instincts and prevent it
from relaxing. This causes undue stress and leads to various kinds
of disorders.
Daily caffeine intake induces a 24 hour cyclic disturbance in your
body. While the morning cup of coffee or tea perks up your mood
most people can't stop at that. Almost every office goer develops
a craving for the next cup and subsequently, a heavy fatigue sets
in by late afternoon. Even if endless cups revives you at this
time of the day, a total collapse is inevitable by evening.
Irritability,
fatigue and gloom along with an uncomfortable sensation are the
usual symptom. what is worse is that finally when you try to sleep
away your blues at night, you just can't. That's no the end.
The next morning you get up tired, thirsting for a steaming
cuppa to settle your mood.
Thus
begins a coffeeholic's journey. At the end of which, apart from
developing dark circles under the eyes, you also acquire acidity
problems, irregular palpitations and more. So next time you take a
sip remember you are sipping a host of health problems too.
Are you a Coffee Addict?
Addiction
to caffeine can begin as early as in school, or as the
syllabus pressure gets the better of you in college or perhaps,
when you land a job and have to course up the anxiety ridden path
to office. The first sip happens when you battling stress and
depression. If you're caffeine dependent answer the following
questions and evaluate the addiction status:
-
Do
you consume more than two cups of coffee, tea or cola or
chocolate in a day?
-
Do
you feel fatigued on and off during the day?
-
Do
you go through massive emotional mood swings during the
day?
-
Do
you suffer from frequent headaches?
-
Do
you suffer from constipation or are you dependent on tea or
coffee in the morning for clearing your bowels?
-
Do
you suffer from acidity or heartburn?
-
Do
you feel a generalized pain in the neck, shoulders and back
region and a sensation of discomfort in the legs, hands and
stomach?
-
Do
you suffer from a burning sensation, fatigue and heaviness in
the eyes?
-
If
you are a woman do you suffer from premenstrual syndromes?
-
Do
you have difficulty in going to sleep?
-
Do
you wake up in the morning feeling dead tired?
-
Are
you easily irritable?
-
Do
you suffer from irregular or rapid heartbeats?
-
Do
you often feel dizzy?
-
Do
you have high blood pressure problems apart from anxiety
problems?
-
Do
you have ulcers?
-
Do
you have problems concentrating without your regular cup of
coffee?
-
Do
your hands tremor?
-
Do
you feel dehydrated?
If you have answered five to six of the questions with an
'yes' caffeine is part of your daily system, reduction or removal
of products laced with caffeine from your diet will improve your
health considerably.
If you have answered seven to eight of the questions in the
affirmative, you are a caffeine addict, and need to reduce or
eliminate caffeine from your diet. Before caffeine causes any
nutritional imbalance or disorder try and be conscious about
what you eat and drink.
If 10 to 12 of the questions have a positive answer, its time to
sit up and listen to your body signals. Caffeine can cause serious
damage to your health. Wean yourself of the habit slowly and
steadily, preferably with the help o fhe dietician.
Remember
this is just a self help questionnaire and not a professional
diagnosis sheet. Incase of alarming results it is advisable to
contact the family doctor.
How
much Caffeine do you consume daily?
| Food
and beverage |
Caffeine
content (mg/serving) |
| Coffee(6
oz, normal teacup): |
|
| Instant |
57 |
| Brewed,
drip method |
103 |
| Brewed,
percolator method |
75 |
| Tea(6
oz, normal teacup), 3-minute brew |
36 |
| Cola
beverages(100ml), regular or diet |
10
to 15 |
| Cola
beverage(6 oz normal teacup) |
4 |
| Milk
chocolate(8 oz) |
8 |
| Dark
Milk chocolate(1 oz) |
8
to 20 |
| Chocolate
pudding half cup) |
4
to 8 |
The
Withdrawal Symptoms of Caffeine
Once
you have lowered your caffeine dependence status and realized that
caffeine is the trouble factor in your diet, don't take the hasty
decisions of cutting down on all such intake. For in case of
sudden elimination of all caffeine products from your diet, the
withdrawal symptoms maybe too tough to handle. consequently, you
may suffer from some of the following withdrawal symptoms:
Quitting Coffee Gradually
So
make sure you reduce your regular caffeine intake gradually.
Initially reduce your intake by half. Avoid the other half by
replacing it with a cup of mild organic green tea or herbal
tea. For example if you are used to four cups of coffee in a day,
start drinking two cups of coffee and two cups of mild green tea.
Gradually replace the mild tea with with soup or plain hot
water mixed with honey and lime. Then replace the remaining
two cups of coffee with mild tea and follow the same pattern.
4 cups of coffee
2 cups of coffee+2 cups of tea
2 cups of coffee+2 servings of soup/hot water
with honey and lime
2 cups of coffee+2 cups of soup/hot water with
honey and lime
4 cups of soup/water with honey and lime
Freedom from caffeine dependence.
Now
don't make a grab for another cup.
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