Well Em, just like this little pup up above, your body does in fact crave various things while under duress. For the dog, he's probably craving stronger chair legs...or for it to be quick and painless!
Over time, people create their own self-defense mechanisms to help them get cope with stressful events. Say for instance that you love Dr. Pepper...the best way to get your mind off a tasking situation may be to take a cold, refreshing, esophagus-burning swig of the Pepper (41mg of caffeine in 12oz).
The medical reason why people crave caffeine during stressful is simply that it is slightly addictive and that people use it as a coping mechanism. Caffeine blocks the hormone adenosine which is the body's natural tranquility response. In doing so, it makes caffeine a central nervous system stimulant giving your body that notorious "boost of energy". In other words, you get that boost of energy by the adenosine receptor cites being blocked by the caffeine. It also stimulates the adrenal glands to produce more of the stress hormone known as adrenaline, which in some aspects is the body's natural version of caffeine.
Bottom Line is this....When your body is confronted with a stressful situation adrenaline is released which initiates the fight or flight response. When your body realizes that your adrenaline is starting to sky-rocket it then releases adenosine in order to reduce the anxiety and bring your vitals back to within normal limits. If however, caffeine in your crutch, then the caffeine blocks the adenosine from reducing your anxiety and actually aggravates it much worse. I heard it once put that your adrenal glands are the horses that are carrying a wagon load up a stressful hill. Caffeine would then be the whip that is driving the adrenal glands. In order to function at your highest capability, the caffeine whip should be replaced with sleep and rest....and yes even YOGA!!!
In the long term, caffeine actually causes fatigue and reduces your ability to deal with stress.
You shouldn't be having more than 250mg of caffeine a day...
Medical Fact #4: This one is for Ryan..."On average when you cough, it is expelled at a whopping 60mph"
3 comments:
no more trips to wawa....
=(
Guess it's time for that juice diet then...
Ry and I thought of a question yesterday, sitting on the beach...haha. It got a little chilly and my toes/toenails turned purple. Why does that happen? :)
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