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Well after an extended time not drinking coffee or high caffeine drinks (see my article on giving up coffee), I have started an experiment to see what happens returning to strong coffee (as opposed to the infrequent cup of instant coffee I've had from time to time).One thing I must mention - I love good quality strong Coffee, but one thing I've found not drinking it is that I like the combination of the wonderful flavour of coffee and the buzz together. I found I do not like drinking decaffeinated coffee no matter how good it tastes, without the buzz of the caffeine it is just not the same.The results of this experiment/trial so far have been interesting · The Caffeine buzz was very noticeable, with a little irritability but not too bad · Some jitters from my body not being used to so much caffeine · Only sleep issues I've faced was the first day I had a full strength brewed coffee, other than that I am careful not to drink coffee after about 1:00pm · The dehydration effects are still there, and it's very easy to forget to drink some water or something else to offset this problem · A very unusual effect noticed was in my Martial Arts training, the 2nd day after starting this experiment, I was not feeling the best, a little run down and tired, but at training that night everything I did was explosive and with tremendous power and razor sharp focus, I received several comments about my performance that night, even aspects of training which require a combination of strength and absolute muscle control I was able to perform extremely well. So the use of Caffeine as a performance enhancing drug is valid, but since then I've notice a reduction in it's effects on my training as my body adapts to consuming coffee once more. · Some dullness in my thinking has been noticed, tempting me to go have another coffee to help "perk" me up - I guess that's an effect of any stimulant as the body adapts to it. · Early on into this trial I was achieving a huge amount of work, with my mind working at top pace. But once again as I adapted to the caffeine this effect dropped off, to the point it started requiring a hit of coffee to bring me up to "normal" levels
So the result so far, nothing too damaging has occurred returning to drinking coffee, and some definite benefits but it all comes with the problem of the body adapting too quickly to the caffeine and the effects requiring more and more coffee to maintain the same effect. I will continue with this trial for a other week or so, but after that I believe I will drop coffee from my life again for most of the time, only indulging in a good strong brewed coffee once per month which will hopefully give me the benefits of coffee without the loss of intensity through adaptation and I will still be able to enjoy the flavour and buzz of a good coffee now and then.
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