The Heartbreak of Addiction.

I myself didn’t begin to drink coffee until late in life.  Yes, I was a 40 year old coffee virgin.  I had no need for it, nor did I particularly like the taste.  I would even avoid toffee candies.

It all happened quite innocently, as a result of having to go back and forth on the weekends between the new job and the old city, before the house sold.  The withdrawal effects from caffeine pills I found were even nastier than the taste of coffee; so it was the lesser of two evils. 

It wasn’t long before my need for caffeine escalated form wakeful driving to kick-starting the workday.  I did go on the wagon with tea for quite some time, but when my favorite frozen yogurt shop was replace by Starbucks the temptation became too much.  

Those of you who have followed my blog know that my favorite spot on earth is the patio area out in front Starbucks located in the middle of Palm Springs’ downtown.  I can often be seen there on a lazy Saturday afternoon with the pleasures of very strong, often Venti-sized coffee in my hand. 

A Sad Testimonial

My real love affair began when the café on the first floor of the County Administrative Center in Riverside opened and began selling Starbucks coffee.  First it was mornings, and then it was afternoons, and then it was mornings and afternoons.  

I can thankfully say that I never got to the point of one fellow building worker Wally (not his real name), who I would regularly hear order a five-shot sugar-free Grande soy latte (that drink combination is hard to forget even if you are not a barista), and he would return for the same order up it to six times a day 

Now, Wally knew that drinking 30 shots of espresso every day probably wasn’t good for him. And in conversation once, he admitted to having trouble sleeping lately which was why that particular week he was attempting to rein in his caffeine habit. 

But he knew that’s easier said than done. “I’ll quit for a month and do fine, but then I’ll be out with friends and smell coffee beans,” he said, pausing to conjure the aroma. Wally’s most recent attempt to quit had ended at a cute little roadside café near Temecula. “It starts with a cappuccino,” he said. “And then I’m off to the races.”

Psychoactive Substance Effects

From a recent internet research I learned that caffeine is the world’s most widely used psychoactive substance because it works, and quickly. Caffeine enters the bloodstream almost instantaneously upon ingestion. Within 30 to 45 minutes it has permeated nearly every cell in the body. Because it slips effortlessly across what is known as the blood-brain barrier—a sort of filter that prevents bacteria, viruses, and most drugs from entering the brain—it penetrates the cerebral cortex unimpeded.

Once inside the central nervous system, caffeine is believed to plug up the receptors of adenosine, a neuromodulator that acts like a brake on nerve cells firing their messages across synapses. With the neural sluice gates open, more messages flood through, resulting, it’s said, in a sense of heightened mental quickness.

The Feel Good Drug… Then Thud!

“It makes people feel good, it increases their arousal and alertness, and makes them more friendly and sociable and talkative,” says Laura Juliano, an American University psychology professor, coffee researcher, and substance-dependence expert. Adenosine is also linked to the onset of sleep; rats injected with it have been observed to keel over unconscious, and then wake up a few minutes later. 

Physical Endurance and Athletic Performance… who could ask for anything more?

When we pull a coffee-fueled all-nighter, “we’re blocking the adenosine telling us to go to sleep because we’re tired,” says James Lane, a professor of psychology at Duke University Medical Center who has been studying the effects of caffeine since the eighties. Caffeine also greatly aids physical endurance and athletic performance, allowing one to go longer and stronger to such an extent that the International Olympic Committee once limited its use as a performance enhancer, though it lifted the restriction in 2004.

So in closing, If you happen to see me in downtown Palm Springs, come over, introduce yourself, and have a cup of coffee (ZEN Tea, if you are on the wagon).  I will be sure to give you the inside dope (pardon the expression) on the latest job openings in the Desert.