Caffeine in coffee is a mild stimulant that is believed to, in many ways, help increase the capacity to learn, recall and executive directives in school, business and even on the battlefield. It's also believed to be able to "positively affect overall mood, enhance alertness and performance, thereby aiding learning abilities." -Nestle
According to a study conducted at the Nature Neuroscience division of Nature America, "Many studies have documented the effects of caffeine as a cognitive enhancer", promotes alertness, a positive mental attitude and helps to reduce fatigue. "However, its effects on long-term memory (LTM) have not been investigated in detail". So is it true that consuming caffeine while in the act of reading power books can actually aid the short-term memory (STM) in the ability to retain information? I did my best to find out.
I think, by this point, we can all agree that poor diet, lack of exercise, little or no water intake and bad sleeping habits all play a part in reading comprehension and execution. I would be willing to bet that top business executives not only read excessively, but they have excelled in at least 2 of the 4 things I just mentioned (poor diet and proper hydration being the outliers). As a matter of fact (usually followed by less than factual information and this will be no different lol) 76% of highly effective business people polled (polls aren't facts) say that they not only participate in a regular fitness regiment and sleep 6-7hrs a night, but that they routinely consume caffeine in the morning either before or during reading the business news and/or reports. 40% of those continue to consume caffeine throughout the day. So is there a direct link between caffeine intake and their success with the execution and decisions of their day? The overwhelming consensus was, "I have no clue". And neither do I.
So let's check with Nature Neuroscience. Their study was done to chart the effects on the STM and LTM after being injected with 200mg caffeine AFTER studying a series of images. The report states, "We calculated a lure discrimination index (LDI) as P(‘similar’|lure) minus P(‘similar’|foil) to correct for response bias and found a significant difference between groups (t42 = 2.0, two-tailed P = 0.05; Fig. 2a)."...blah...blah blah......blah...blah...blah....yeah that. Their final word after conducting many many tests was, "Given the widespread use of caffeine and the growing interest in its effects both as a cognitive enhancer and as a neuroprotectant, future experiments should be conducted to understand the mechanisms by which caffeine can potentiate memory." Ummmm I thought that's what they were studying? Wow! I'll be honest, reading that report made me not want to ever read another report on the effects of caffeine on the body and brain lol...so I didn't
At the time of the writing of this blog I had not been able to find any actual studies to prove or disprove whether drinking coffee before or while reading would help you to retain information and/or execute any particular directives. It is my opinion that it probably does but even the scientists who get paid to study this stuff have no clue. I think it just comes down to personal opinion and preference. If you think it helps then that's all that really counts. For me its very relaxing and satisfying to reach over and sip a robust cup of java while reading a fantastic Power Book. This in itself helps me to focus on what I'm reading. That has to mean something but again, this is only my opinion.
So in conclusion, while there seems to be two camps the feel strongly about their factless synopsis', the argument can be made that there might never be any conclusive proof either way. 4 things that you can do to promote your personal development is: 1- Healthy eating: Eating the right food can at the right time of day can provide the brain with essential nutrients to stimulate short term and long term memory 2- Exercising: To boost energy. I know. Its counterintuitive to think that exercising can actually give you energy but it does when you do it regularly. 3- Hydration: Drinking water throughout the day will help with blood flow to the body & brain. 4- Adequate sleep: "...research has shown that sleep deprivation negatively affects mental performance."
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