Zachary White

Instructor: Malcolm Campbell

English (1102)
2/13/2014
When a paper is due and in a matter of hours and you havent even started,
when youve got a big presentation tomorrow that you need to rehearse, or simply you
have to get up at the crack of dawn and you need a little more focus before you get
behind the wheel, there is one substance that students, teachers, and businessmen
alike turn to, and that is caffeine. Research done at the University of New Hampshire
showed that 40% of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 drank coffee every
day, backing up the fact that a campus coffee shop here at UNCC is the last place you
want to get stuck in between classes (Olsen 2013).
Other than fueling all-nighters, can there be a benefit to drinking caffeine?
Numerous scientific journals say yes. Across the board, researchers agree that caffeine
can cause an increase in mood and cerebral performance (Smith, 2002. Haskell,
Kennedy, Wesnes & Scholey, 2005). As a fervent consumer of coffee, I was very
intrigues as to how caffeine could, for instance, improve my performance in an
academic setting.
Nearly 90% of the adult population in the United States drinks ingests caffeine
every day, in amounts equaling neatly 4 cups of coffee (Olsen 2013). Thats almost 213
million people! If those tired masses are anything like myself, they have been simply
knocking back cup after cup in the hope that they can stay awake through the day.
However, if drinking coffee and ingesting other forms of caffeine has real world practical
benefits, it could completely change the populations views of that mermaid branded little
white cup that they make time to pick up every morning.
Scientific studies have shown that the ingestion of caffeine does indeed have
positive effects in certain situations. When a participant was placed in low alertness
situations such as working late at night, early in the morning, or on a sleep deficit, the
ingestion of caffeine showed a measurable increase in the alertness and focus of the
subject, observations that easily conform to societys views of beverages such as
coffee. But focus is not the only improvement that can come from ingesting caffeine. It
was shown that improvements to mood and attitude can also be found in participants
(Smith, 2002). Although not directly related to performance, a good mood may
encourage someone to be more active in an academic setting, which ultimately could
lead to better results. Taking that in to account, it may be wise for teachers to start
allowing students to enjoy there morning coffee in class.
Of course, caffeine is not societies cure all. Like most things, it too has its
drawbacks, chiefly in the form of caffeine withdrawal. In most cases, withdrawal brings
out the opposite effects in participants that ingesting caffeine did. Headaches,
decreases in mood, cognitive abilities, and increases in drowsiness and agitation levels
are all common among research subjects (Smith, 2002). This explains why many
people, including myself, exclaim that they have become addicted to caffeine,
demanding daily doses in order to avoid the drawbacks.
The research I uncovered on this topic furthered my initial assumptions, that
there had to be more reasons as to why Americans drink coffee so frequently, even if
those reasons werent consciously known to the people themselves. And although the
negative effects of regular caffeine intake are evident, I stand by the positive research in
that caffeine can help boost performance in critical situations, such as academics.