Picture this, fellow student. It's late, really late. You're sitting at your desk, trying desperately to focus your mind on that last coursework paragraph, that last page of revision, that last question for your seminar the next day. The urge to just give up is pulling at your thoughts, unbearably so. You know the feeling.
But before all hope is lost, you run to the kitchen, pour yourself either a hot, caffeine-injected beverage or whip out another can of Coke and run back to your desk, already feeling somewhat safe from that previous urge to give up and crash onto your bed.
It's no secret that most students practically live off caffeine. After all, it's always the perfect saviour to these recurring situations at university. But does it ACTUALLY help our ability to concentrate and complete our work? Or is caffeine our most dangerous faux friend?
Caffeine is a stimulant, this much is obvious. It pretty much speeds up everything in your body. Including stress hormones like cortisol. These hormones increase your levels of anxiety and irritability. In turn, these increased levels of stress from caffeine stop you from responding healthily to the normal daily stress levels we all cope with. So in simple words, not only does caffeine increase your stress levels, but it prevents you from coping with your day to day stress levels. Not ideal, to be honest. Especially when you're writing that last coursework paragraph in the dead of night, and your deadline is tomorrow morning. That situation is stressful enough.
Now I don't know about you, but for me, stress usually inhibits my levels of productivity. It makes it harder for me to concentrate on my work, and easier for me to freak out on the spot.
Aside from this, that drop in adrenaline, that feeling of total exhaustion when the caffeine wears off makes it even more of a race against the clock. Trying desperately to whizz through your last piece of work before the drug leaves your system merely adds to the stress. So, essentially we're rushing our work even MORE so than necessary. Surely this will result in a dramatic drop in the quality of our work? But what if we allowed our brain to work caffeine-free, albeit slower, but steadier and stress-free? Would it help us with that difference from a 2.2 to a cheeky 2.1, or from a 2.1 to a beautiful 1st? Maybe, maybe not. I won't pretend I know the answer.
The obvious solution would be to leave tons and tons of time to complete each piece of work, but let's not kid ourselves, we're students, subject to the temptations of clubbing, drinking, over-sleeping, and general procrastination.
What I would suggest is that we all try it out, ban the energy drinks, ban the coke, ban the tea and coffee for just one day, and see if the quality of our work improves or if what I'm saying is total rubbish. Let's just see, no harm in it. Unless you do happen to try it and fail on that piece of work. In which case, well, sorry.