As a girl who is single-handedly supporting the entire coffee bean industry of Brazil, I think that coffee is a beautiful, wonderful, incredible thing. It may even be God’s greatest gift to creation–aside from Netflix and Zac Efron. Not only has my coffee addiction allowed me to stimulate the growth of our global economy, but it has also aided in the growth of our local economy; I am an avid patron of my local Starbucks franchise. So, you are quite welcome. If it weren’t for me and my fellow Starbucks lovers, our nation might be in an economic crisis as of right now.
Though I may hold the world record for the daily amount of coffee consumed by one individual, I am constantly challenged by the worthiest of opponents–my fellow Stone Ridge girls. As if the recently installed makeshift coffee bar in the senior lounge is not evidence enough of our school wide coffee dependency, the plethora of venti Starbucks coffee cups lining the tables leading into Good Hall in the morning serve as a tangible reminder of our intense love for the coffee bean. But, as the great Britney Spears once said, “I’m addicted to you, don’t you know that you’re toxic.” According to the amount of coffee mugs in the lost and found, we don’t know.
So, here is the hard truth: coffee is a drug. Yes, Britney Spears was right–our addiction could be toxic. Coffee and its mystical ability to alleviate our fatigue on that morning after pulling an all-nighter is, like any other drug, addictive. With its instant energy boost and smooth, rich taste, coffee is a go-to for anyone with a heartbeat and a bad night’s sleep, especially for those searching for any way to stay awake in first period Calculus. It is almost as if coffee was intentionally created to target the sleep-deprived teenagers of America.
When asked what triggered her coffee addiction, Ciara Darcey, ’16, replies, “I started drinking coffee to stay awake […] and it quickly developed into an addiction. Coffee is my way around feeling exhausted in the morning after working all night long; it’s the only way I can function, stay awake, and literally be approachable as a person.”
As students with a full-time job that requires our utmost attention, we turn to coffee as the much needed “pick me up” to sustain us through the day. However, hardly do we ever consider the downsides of our morning cup of joe. Aside from the inevitable midday crash in energy, coffee has other negative side effects that we must be aware of as well. According to a study conducted by LiveStrong, coffee consumption is associated with an increase in blood pressure levels and oftentimes leads to elevated cholesterol in the blood. In addition, coffee is a diuretic, which dehydrates the body. Perhaps the worst side effect for a coffee lover is withdrawal.
Withdrawal is a painful process, let me tell you. Even Darcey agrees, citing “a very bad headache” as the unfortunate result of a day without java. Now, if you do not believe the large amount of scientific evidence or the research studies that prove coffee’s addictive qualities, let me tell you a story.
During my Summer Network Service Project in Chicago, I was forced into every coffee addict’s worst nightmare–detox. Apparently, the program not only wanted me to relinquish my phone to fully embrace the service experience, but my coffee addiction, as well. Prior to this, I had never understood just how dependent I was on coffee. However, during the first three days of my service project, when we had no access to coffee whatsoever, I thought that I was physically dying. I attributed the feeling that was eerily reminiscent to being hit in the head with a brick and run over by a tractor trailer to simply coming down with the flu.
But on the fourth day of the service project, we convinced our faculty advisors to let us go to CVS. It was there that I bought four of the biggest and finest bottles of prepackaged Starbucks coffee that the drugstore had to offer and, as if by a miracle from God himself, my sickness disappeared. Just like that. In that moment, I realized that I had a problem, and admitting you have a problem is truly the first step to recovery.
I have yet to seek help for my coffee addiction and am choosing to look only at the benefits of coffee, instead. According to Medical News Today, not only does your morning cup of coffee offer the motivation needed to get through the day, but it may just help you live longer, too. Coffee may prevent type 2 diabetes by regulating globulin levels, and may also prevent against both liver disease and liver cancer. In addition, studies suggest that participants who drink more than one cup of coffee per day have a lower chance of developing Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s. If we believe all of these encouraging studies to be true, the majority of Stone Ridge’s junior and senior classes will live long and prosper, free of both disease and fatigue.
Despite the controversy that caffeine usage raises, I will continue to stand in solidarity with my fellow coffee lovers. Our coffee dependency is vital to our own well-being and the well-being of others. So, to all you of coffee addicts out there, just know that you are not alone and that you will always have me and plenty of other Stone Ridge girls to share that vanilla iced coffee with in the morning.
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