Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women.
-- Charles Johnson, Middle Passage

Tag: caffeine

Thirteen Facts About Caffiene, 17th

Thursday Thirteen Banner
Thirteen Things about J. Lynne

  1. Coffee beans are actually the seeds of the berries of the coffee plant. It’s a fruit, not a vegetable. (Coffee Bean)
  2. According to Chinese myth, in 2737 BCE, Emperor Shen Nung of China discovered tea while sitting under a wild tea tree with a cup of hot water. A leaf from the tree fell into his water, creating the first tea. Then in 900 B.C., Homer makes reference to a mysterious black and bitter beverage with the power to ward off sleep … a reference repeated in several Arabian legends from the same period. (Caffeine Timeline)
  3. A major study has found fewer suicides among coffee drinkers than those who abstained from the hot black brew. (Studies on the Side Effects of Caffeine)
  4. Although it’s important to note that coffee is the most popular drug in the world. Ninety percent of Americans consume it in some form every day and over 450,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed in the United States every day. (Fast Facts About Caffeine)
  5. According to a study at the University of Georgia in Athens, Women who had the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee the day after their quadriceps were stimulated (as if they’d done squats) felt 48% less leg pain within an hour. Apparently, caffeine may block the body’s receptors for the pain-causing chemical adenosine. (Self Magazine, May 2007)
  6. Decaffeinated coffee does not mean caffeine-free. Decaf coffee may contain enough caffeine to affect people sensitive to the stimulant, especially after a few cups. (Self Magazine, May 2007)
  7. A moderate amount of caffeine may make you more agreeable to persuasive arguments according to a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology. Apparently Caffeine enhances not only alertness but also reasoning abilities. (Health Magazine, December 2006)
  8. Despite the fact that coffee has been described as a contributor to hypertension in the past, a study in the Journal of American Medical Association found that drinking coffee isn’t associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure after all; however, soda may be. Women who drank 3 cans or more of caffeinated regular or diet soda increased their chances of developing the condition by 16 to 44 percent, compared to those who had none. (Fitness Magazine, March 2006)
  9. Young women drinking 4 or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily reduced their breast cancer risk by 40 percent compared with nondrinkers according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition. (Self Magazine, June 2006)
  10. People who drank more metabolism-firing caffeine gained less weight over 12 years than those who cut back on caffeine according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. The best choice for a healthy buzz? Black, lightly sweetened tea. (Self Magazine, August 2006)
  11. According to a study of more than 27,000 women by the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, daily coffee drinkers of 1 to 3 cups had a 4% lower risk of dying from heart disease and other inflammatory conditions. (Self Magazine, October 2006)
  12. During the Civil War, coffee was as commonplace on the battlefields as it is in office buildings and shopping malls today. In fact, the Union army was so fueled by the need for caffeine, if there was no time to boil water, the Boys in Blue would chew on whole beans as they marched. Apparently they hadn’t discovered chocolate-covered coffee beans yet. The Confederates however were pretty much cut off from a good caffeine buzz by the Union naval blockade. While a pound of coffee in the Northern states cost about 20¢, after the pre-war supplies ran out, a pound of coffee beans in the South ran about $60. And people complained when Starbucks raised their prices a few cents this year! (How Coffee Played A Role In The Civil War)
  13. The world’s first coffee house, Kiva Han, opened in Constantinople in 1475, 496 years before the first Starbucks opened in Seattle. (Caffeine Timeline)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

  • (you could be next!)

Read the rest of this entry »

About this entry

Published:
08 Nov 2007 / 12:31 AM
Category:
Facts of Life, Health, Thursday Thirteen
Tags:
• • • • • • •
Comments:
4 Comments »

The Good With The Bad

I’m having an incredibly bad fibro day. The pain started yesterday evening and just kept increasing until everything hurt. I do mean everything. Even my butt cheek muscles seem to be screaming out in pain. Last night I couldn’t even pet my poor dog because just the task of lifting up my arm to make the petting motion was agony.

And I didn’t sleep well at all last night. The Flexeril didn’t appear to do any muscle relaxing and the Melatonin didn’t make me sleepy enough to be able to sleep through the pain. I couldn’t find a comfortable position because everywhere hurt and no matter which way I tried to lay on the bed, this or that limb or muscle group complained angrily.

So, I’m cranky today and I don’t feel like being on a diet or sticking to my 12oz of caffeine or drinking 24oz of water.

Read the rest of this entry »

About this entry

Published:
05 Oct 2007 / 12:45 PM
Category:
Health, Life
Tags:
• • • • • • • • • •
Comments:
3 Comments »

Attack Of The Killer Migraines

Ancient Egyptian medical documents as early as 1200 B.C. make reference to migraine-like headaches and in 400 B.C., Hippocrates described the visual aura that can precede migraines and the relief which can occur through vomiting. Yet migraines weren’t widely accepted by modern doctors as a “real” health issue of their own until sometime in the 1990’s when the beginning of a spontaneous migraine was captured in a PET Scan. Like PMS, many doctors believed migraines were all in their patients’ heads — I have had personal experience with this as late as 2003.

Did you know that migraine attacks cause an estimated 112 million bedridden days a year?

Read the rest of this entry »

About this entry

Published:
22 Sep 2007 / 08:25 AM
Category:
Facts of Life, Health
Tags:
• •
Comments:
No Comments »

Revisiting Alternative Medicine

I’ve been thinking a lot about (re)focusing on alternative medicine lately as a means of improving my health. I got to thinking about it because of a bad experience at the doctor’s office where I didn’t see the actual doctor but a nurse practitioner who’s “advise” was basically useless. Plus, my anti-depressant medication doesn’t appear to be working anymore and I’m having a flare up with my fibromyalgia with the extreme heat and humidity from last week.

So, I pulled out the diet recommendations from the Alternative Med Doctors I saw last November and December when I got my IgAN and fibro diagnoses. I figured now was a good time to check in and review how I’m doing.

Read the rest of this entry »

About this entry

Published:
07 Aug 2007 / 11:39 AM
Category:
Health, Life
Tags:
• • • • • • •
Comments:
2 Comments »