The Beneficial Effects of Caffeine

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Beep Beep, Beep Beep! Your alarm is going off, so you roll over and hit snooze. This happens a few times, and before you realize it, it is 7 o’clock. You have 30 minutes before your big biology final, and you’re still groggy and tired. You throw on your clothes and grab a caffeinated beverage of your choice before sprinting out the door. You know you can’t rely on caffeine to stimulate your brain, or can you?

This scenario is very common in the lives of most college students. For most students, caffeine dependency has become more important than sleep. Caffeine seems to be the boost that students need before tests. “Unfortunately, I have no data associating sales trends to midterms and finals, but I think it's safe to assume that sales of caffeinated beverages increase around exam times," claims Buzz Hofford, the general manager of Bon Appetite, a restaurant in the University of Seattle. Since students rely heavily on caffeine, they need to know if caffeine does actually kindle their memory. I believe that caffeine does stimulate the memory process and help boost alertness when used in moderation because of the different types of research that supports caffeine stimulation.

Caffeine comes in many different forms, and is an important in many people’s lives. In order to understand how caffeine has the potential to stimulate the memory, you must understand what caffeine is. Caffeine isn’t sugary or sweet like most substances that contain caffeine. Caffeine is actually a bitter substance, which has many effects on the body’s metabolism (“Caffeine”). It is also a stimulant, meaning it has the ability to increase activity. A survey recently conducted by Johns Hopkins Bay View Medical Center found that 85% of Americans including childre...

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...ams or three eight ounce cups of coffee. Excessive amounts of caffeine are considered over 833 milligrams which compares to ten eight ounce cups of coffee (Dugdale). If the amount of caffeine taken is controlled, the negative effects of caffeine will not be experienced.

Even though caffeine does produce some negative effects, its benefits are numerable, especially for college students. Although some studies have proved otherwise, caffeine can stimulate your brain and help boost alertness. Also, caffeine intake in moderation will not induce “crash and burn” effects or cause unorganized brain activity. Caffeine will also help you process information more effectively, which is very import to college students during exam times. So the next time you are clinging to the hope that your caffeinated beverage will keep you attentive for your exam, stay assured that it will.

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