{"id":5766,"date":"2013-06-27T09:32:16","date_gmt":"2013-06-27T15:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5766"},"modified":"2013-06-27T09:32:16","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T15:32:16","slug":"the-cup-that-cheers-but-does-not-cause-ocd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5766","title":{"rendered":"The Cup that Cheers but does not Cause OCD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Caffeine is g<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/health\/archive\/2013\/06\/caffeine-for-the-more-creative-mind\/277069\/\">ood for creative workers<\/a>, whereas stimulants like Adderall do not necessarily help.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Caffeine also blocks adenosine receptors in your brain. Stephen Braun, author of <em>Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/5585840\/buzz-author-stephen-braun-on-programming-your-brain-for-caffeine-energy-drinks-and-more\">once explained it<\/a> as an &#8220;indirect stimulant, as opposed to, say, amphetamine which liberates dopamine, a directly stimulating neurotransmitter. By blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine allows the brain&#8217;s own stimulating neurotransmitters (i.e. glutamate and dopamine) to do their thing with greater gusto and less restraint.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For a time in college I did experiment with a combination of coffee and the now-obsolete tranquilizer <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meprobamate\">Meprobamate <\/a>(a\/k\/a Miltown).* Two inches off the floor and flying steady. It&#8217;s a good thing that I was too poor to get seriously into that kind of thing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>* People calling Milwaukee &#8220;Mil-town&#8221; are too young to get the joke?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caffeine is good for creative workers, whereas stimulants like Adderall do not necessarily help. Caffeine also blocks adenosine receptors in your brain. Stephen Braun, author of Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine, once explained it as an &#8220;indirect stimulant, as opposed to, say, amphetamine which liberates dopamine, a directly stimulating neurotransmitter. By [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-5766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1v0","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6321,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6321","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":0},"title":"Caffeine and the Sun God","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As a freezing fog swirls through the pines, I lift my coffee mug and think of the sun \u2014 and coffee! Thursday was a much warmer day: M. and I went to Pueblo for supplies, and after a stop at Hercules Liquor for beer and wine, had a late breakfast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"winter\"","block_context":{"text":"winter","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=winter"},"img":{"alt_text":"solarroast","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/solarroast.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4764,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4764","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":1},"title":"Hail, Caffeina, Goddess of Health!","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A little idol like this one, purchased at the Nashville Parthenon* gift shop, sits on my bookshelf. Truly, Caffeina rewards her followers, as this article in The Atlantic notes: But that caffeine is only mechanism behind coffee's health effects is supported by a small\u00a0study\u00a0of 554 Japanese adults from October that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"food\"","block_context":{"text":"food","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=food"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com\/upload\/179932947583668163_fvyk3g3s_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7506,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7506","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":2},"title":"In Which I Go on Vacation","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, an actual vacation, nine time zones away \u2014 and no laptop computer. Giving up the MacBook was like giving up alcohol and caffeine. It meant that I could not work on writing or editing; therefore, I was truly on vacation. What was left was the tried and true \u2014notebooks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"vintage bar2 96dpi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/vintage-bar2-96dpi.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9037,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9037","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":3},"title":"On Dale Pendell (1947\u20132018)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every plant is a teacher But as in every crowd There are always A few loudmouths \u2013Dale Pendell I went to town this morning and drinking my Americano at the coffee house while reading the comments on Kocku von Stuckrad's memorial to Michael Harner. But then the screen went all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ethnobotany\"","block_context":{"text":"ethnobotany","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ethnobotany"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=soutrocknatub-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1556438036","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1083","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":4},"title":"Seeking the Blessing of the Wolves","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A few years ago, when I was on the board of a local environmental-education group, I helped organize a couple of presentations by the staff of Mission: Wolf, a sanctuary located one county south of me. As part of their mission, \"Socialized ambassador wolves travel nationally, offering public education while\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0684163225","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3874,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3874","url_meta":{"origin":5766,"position":5},"title":"Yoga, Ectasy, Religion, and Sex","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Religion is sexy \u2014 at least some of the time. (To scholars of religion, all religion is \"sexy\" in an intellectual sense.) Last year, I edited and prepared for press a new biography of the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. She was a leading figure in American religion in the 1920s,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5767,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5766\/revisions\/5767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}