A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Science Daily for April 7th had an article on how Caffeine Reduces Pain During Exercise. Professor of kenesiology and community health, Robert Motl has been studying the effects of caffeine on pain during exercise. He began by noticing that he always had a cup of coffee before going out to train and felt it helped him workout longer and perform better when he was a competitive cyclist.

Early in his research, Motl noticed:

“caffeine works on the adenosine neuromodulatory system in the brain and spinal cord, and this system is heavily involved in nociception and pain processing.” Since Motl knew caffeine blocks adenosine from working, he speculated that it could reduce pain.

Even more interesting to me is that the results were pretty much the same whether the test subject was a caffeine junkie or someone who barely ate or drank anything with caffeine in it. (Remember caffeine is in more than just coffee, it’s also in chocolate, soft drinks, and many other foods and beverages.) This particular study was only interested in pain and exercise and did coffee make a difference. For other activities or pain related problems caffeine might not work.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll notice that the research about coffee/caffeine and its impact on people’s heath is very much dependent on what research you’re reading. It’s good for you. It’s bad for you. It’s okay in moderation. You should never touch the stuff. It might help reduce the pain during exercise.

What to believe?  I don’t know. I’ve never really paid attention to whether or not having coffee before I do my exercise routine helps me do more exercises or push on harder on the ones I do. I guess now I’ll have to keep that in the back of my mind.

Personally, as I’ve said before, I have a liking for a good cup of coffee but I reduce my intake for health reasons and so that when I have a migraine, drinking coffee will have more of an effect on alleviating the pain. Could it be that this pain blocking effect also works a bit with migraines or is it only the blood vessel dilation/contraction effects that are at work?  I don’t know but I will keep my eye out for more research on the effects of coffee/caffeine on health.

And I’ll also ponder whether the quality of that cup of coffee has any effect on the results of the research. After all if it’s a truly gross cup of coffee I might prefer the pain of the exercise. Would you?

I was surprised to see an article on caffeine withdrawal the other day, “Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal” on CNN.Health. I mean, I thought everyone already knew that coffee, or rather caffeine was addicting. But then I remembered that in this Just Say No society many people won’t admit they have a problem with drugs.

Yes, caffeine is a drug. And, yes, many people are addicted, including children. Caffeine is in many of the products that you ingest each day: coffee, tea, chocolate, some sodas/soft drinks, and many other food items. When you cut out all caffeine it can cause your body to react and fight to get its next fix. Not as bad a withdrawal from some of the hardcore drugs or cigarettes but painful nonetheless.

Personally, I love coffee. Those of you who read my blog know that I have often sung the praises of coffee; one of my favorite beverages. But, alas, I keep the intake down to one large mug a day and when I can (usually in summer when I prefer iced tea (decaf)) to one every other day.

We all have reason why we cut down on caffeine. Some people can’t have it because of health reasons. Me, I cut down because I have migraines. I find that if I keep my daily caffeine intact at a low level then when I have a real big whopper of a migraine upping the caffeine along with a smaller dose of pain meds, I can survive it without resorting to sitting in the dark closet with a pillow wrapped round my head, crying myself to sleep.

I picked up the caffeine trick when pain meds for migraines became difficult to get because, as I’ve been told so often by my health insurance, “It’s only a headache — take aspirin.” (I’m hoping all health insurance workers develop killer migraines and have to resort to aspirin for the pain.) Most of the heavy duty pills for migraines have caffeine in them so I thought why not experiment and see if I can find a balance that will work for me (other migraine sufferers will probably have their own strategies — but if I hear “go to your happy place” one more time, I may do damage…).

Anyway, I thought that just in case you found yourself shaky and unable to concentrate, maybe achy and tired — you might want to think about what you’ve cut out of your diet lately. It could be you’ve cut down on caffeine too quickly and need to rethink just how quickly you cut it out of your life. Slowly reducing intake is the best way to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. Check your food labels because you may have cut out caffeine you didn’t know you were getting.

Me. I’ll stick to my one cup a day or less until I really, really need this drug of choice. What about you?