I had forgotten how much coffee used to affect me, stress-wise.

I like a nice cup of coffee and I remember asking my Mum to get some for me, when I was only about 7 or 8.
She used to make it very weak, milky & frothy for me.

When I started at senior school, I used to have a stronger cup of coffee, every morning, with breakfast.
I had to set off at 7am and returned by about 5.30. After that I would have a couple of hours of homework, so I think I needed that morning cup of coffee.

At work, of course, it was coffee in the morning, at lunch, and sometimes in the afternoon ~ and one before I left home in the morning.

When I left work, and went to university, I discovered the hot chocolate machine and I stopped drinking so much coffee.
I also stopped feeling so stressed.

Except when visiting people.
Then, I would drink their coffee and return home with an anxiety attack.

When I suddenly realised what was happening, I read up on coffee, and discovered that there were two types: Arabica & Robusta.

I find, now, that one cup of Arabica is ok. I drink it if I have to drive, perhaps, and don't want to get drowsy.
It can prevent me sleeping, though, so I have it quite weak, or half & half with decaff.

I do think that, if you suffer with stress or panic attacks, then it would be worth looking at your coffee intake.
Changing to Arabica, reducing the amount & replacing with decaff can help, I think.

I'm drinking some decaffeinated Arabica at the moment.


Some info:

Coffee From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee

Arabica and Robusta Coffee Plant
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/agriculture/coffeeplant.htm

Robusta vs. Arabica
http://kaffee.netfirms.com/Coffee/robustavsarabica.html

Arabica vs Robusta: No Contest
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/02/arabica/

Last edited by PDM; 12/05/09 12:06 AM.

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