The Healthiest Substance On Earth.

Seems like I write and think about coffee a lot. Not surprising, since I currently drink around 3-4 small cups of the stuff each weekday. I'd long ago accepted the fact that I'm addicted to it; last weekend while on a camping/float trip, I went without and felt kinda sluggish and had a slight headache in the mornings. (No, I wasn't hungover. At least I don't think I was.)

Being a caffeine fiend doesn't really alarm me at this point. I'd probably do well to drink less of it, but 10-hour days are taking a bit of a toll on me. Between working from 8 to 6:30 and then working out for another hour after I get home from the hospital, I'm fairly tired. It's a good kind of tired, but I've found myself dragging in the afternoons, especially after lunch. Inevitably I find myself pouring another cup. Long work days are a good excuse for downing a cup of joe, right?

unfortunately, this probably isn't true :(

In the spectrum of vices, coffee consumption is probably ranked pretty low. After all, it's been shown to have some health benefits. It's a low-calorie drink -- obviously, this will change depending on what you put in it. Personally I put a dash of fat-free creamer and a packet of zero-calorie sweetener in my cup (I do have the occasional lapse in judgment and buy a sugar bomb from Starbucks when the budget permits). It's also a minor appetite suppressant, which helps with the restricted diet I'm trying.

Sometimes it's just too hot for coffee though, so I'm looking for some non-soda alternatives. I've tried the 5-Hour Energy shots and they seem to work for road trips. I may have to buy a couple of bottles to take to work and see if they can sustain me throughout the day. But I know that I'll always come back to my one true love in the end.

To my fellow coffee drinkers/fiends, I raise my mug to you! Happy Friday.

Caffeine Therapy.

I can't seem to regulate my sleeping patterns. Wait. That's not quite right. Actually, I can't seem to bring myself to go to bed at a decent hour, even when my 8:00 class requires me to get up at 6:30 every other morning. I end up procrastinating and going to bed at ungodly hours -- which makes me a very sleepy boy indeed when early afternoon hits. Most of the time I resist the temptation to take naps during the day but sometimes, falling asleep anyway isn't unheard of for me. And then I'll wake up disoriented, groggy and occasionally not knowing whether it's AM or PM.

This probably needs to stop. I'd say I need an average of six hours of sleep nightly in order to function properly the next day, making midnight my target bedtime. Problem is, I don't remember the last time I wanted to go to sleep at that time. I consider myself a nocturnal creature like millions of other people, but this doesn't work well with my morning schedule. So I turn to coffee.

Currently I only drink an average of one cup a day, during breakfast. This boost gets me through my classes in the morning hours and a little bit after lunch. Inevitably, I crash around 2 or 3 pm and never fully recover (which is bad news for my afternoon classes). I drink the occasional second cup in the evening when I study after dinner, but for the most part I've been okay at going without. But I've been sorely tempted to up my regular caffeine intake so I can be more functional as the day goes by -- and believe me, this semester has been and will continue to be full of long busy days.

Scientific studies say too much caffeine is bad for me and I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I'm trying to cut down. But there's no doubt I study better in the evenings, so why not strive to be as sharp and productive as I can be with the help of a nice cup of coffee? It's hard to argue against that, and so I indulge in that second night-time drink.

Then again, it's even harder to argue against being more disciplined and consistently going to sleep at a reasonable time, isn't it?