Is caffeine a drug / vice?
I’ve been drug free for nearly 6 years. For a while I cut back on alcohol and caffeine as well. My thought was that these are mind altering drugs as well, they’re just not illegal.
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Recently been drinking a lot more coffee / energy drinks and I’m starting to wonder if I’m cheating (just one in the morning). I feel pretty good when I drink them... but I’m curious of others thoughts. Do you think the physical and mental health downsides of caffeine are bad enough to justify cutting it out? Or should I just enjoy the morning rush and violent poops? I have zero temptation to do real drugs, but in a way I feel like I still enjoy “getting high” on caffeine which is not a healthy habit
Caffeine is not a drug, but a stimulant. It is not harmful in small doses, so a few cups of coffee/tea or a can of redbull won't be a hazard. If a person is very sensitive to stimulants you will see side effects though.
If clean living is the goal, I would also skip caffeine. Many people who lift don't drink coffee or coca cola.
I never had coffee but I do have a tea every other day.
Well in that case cocaine and meth aren't drugs either, since they're stimulants.
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Caffeine isn't addictive and the doses are very small. Therefore they are not comparable to cocaine or meth.
Stimulants are literally a kind of drug lol. Someone take this man back to 6th grade health class
Wrong. Caffeine is a drug. Just because a drug is not harmful in small doses does mean it is not a drug.
Caffeine is one that is on the fence — you’ll meet a lot of people who will abstain for the same reasons you did, and many others as well who see it as a part of daily life and have no issues with it. I’m in the latter camp but have friends in the former. Just do what feels right to you. Or just do it in moderation — maybe only reach for coffee if you really need it vs. building it into your daily routine. That way it feels less like a “drug” to you because your body isn’t necessarily reliant on it.
I’ve never heard of someone losing control of their life because of their caffeine addiction, so I treat it way different than drugs/alcohol. I guess if you had 30 cups a day your heart may give out but that would be difficult to say the least
Caffeine is absolutely an addictive drug... it's a psychoactive chemical that can cause headaches, shakes, nausea, vomiting, etc. as symptoms of withdrawal.
Whether it's a vice is up to you and your moral / philosophical code... to me, vices stem from excess, not just use, whether that be caffeine, alcohol, food, work, etc.
...and COCAINE
Ultimately it is your choice on how much and if you drink caffeine. If you feel it gives you a nice buzz to start your morning then sure. The point you need to consider cutting it out is if you feel you cannot function as your normal self without it. I quit cold turkey because I feel more consistent energy levels throughout the day and I have better sleep quality without it.
If you don't go overboard, its fine. Sometimes you might have to back off a little to keep a low tolerance.
coffee is ok but that energy drink shit pour it right down your toilet
Define drug.
The true medical/biological definition is whatever chemical that changes the bio-chemistry of your body. Under that definition, caffeine is a drug. So is alcohol. But guess what, so is sugar. And there are literally all sorts of crazy chemicals that YOUR OWN BODY produces when it's put under certain circumstances. That means substances like adrenaline, endorphin, and cortisol are ALL DRUGS. So if you really like working out all the time (produces adrenaline), like endurance sports (triggers endorphin rush), or like to put yourself in high pressure situations (triggers cortisol production), are you a junkie? If you're always looking for a fix and possibly can't live without it, technically you are a junkie.
The way we stigmatized "drugs" as being bad over the last century or so is absolutely ridiculous. 60 years ago, meth was being sold as a medical product. People mixed cocaine in their drinks as "digestives". Governments started regulating these "drugs" because they were causing some problems. But instead of figuring out how much is healthy/beneficial vs problematic, they decided to ban them all. Only exceptions were caffeine and alcohol, which already had so much capital behind them. Things like marijuana, psychedelics, MDMA did not have that kind of money so they got banned for nothing.
What ended up happening as the result of higher rates of violent crimes, the "war on drugs" costing taxpayers trillions of dollars worldwide with almost 0 impact, and lots of people behind bars who literally could've been entrepreneurs and hard-working people in another life.
Now that people are starting to think differently, there are tons and tons of medical research that are coming out that proves how beneficial substances like THC, CBD, LSD, MDMA, psilocybin, and DMT could be for people with certain medical conditions. I mean if the world's best medical research schools like Johns Hopkins has a Psychedelic Research Center, there clearly is something to these "Drugs" worth studying and possibly even allowing uses with appropriate oversight.
Shit I probably didn't even answer your question. But I had to rant.
I think Harvard had psilocybin a lab to where Tim Leary was working.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/caffeine-side-effects#TOC_TITLE_HDR_11
Most side effects are pretty obvious but muscle breakdown I haven't heard of.
Remember, anything in excess is bad.
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https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/why-isnt-coffee-considered-a-dir…
Caffeine is a drug. Stimulant
Sucrose is a drug. Table Sugar - Stimulant.
Sodium Chloride is a drug. Table Salt - Prevents dehydration which makes it a physiological altering substance.
Why does it matter? Nobody can really be drugfree or they would literally die.
Some drugs are worse for your physical and mental health than others. I was curious where others view it on the spectrum. Sometimes it seems I get high off caffeine which makes me feel guilty, as if I’m abusing it at the expense of my physical and mental health
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