Why is coffee sooooooo good?

I drew the picture 🙂

thebiocheminist

I love coffee. It’s delicious, aromatic and warming. And it comes in so many varieties! Lattés, Americanos, Iced…Alcoholic! But most importantly, it provides that much appreciated, and sometimes essential, pick-me-up when the day is beginning to drag.

And I’m not alone.

The component of coffee that gives us that ‘buzz’ is caffeine, and caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive drug. ‘Psychoactive’ describes a group of drugs that cause a temporary increase in mental function, and stimulates activation in the cells in the brain. When coffee is consumed, it can therefore increase cognition (e.g. problem solving, alertness and attention) as well as memory.

The effects of coffee might also be long-term – there is increasing evidence that regular consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine (3-5 cups of coffee a day) over many years can prevent age-related cognitive decline, and as I mentioned in my previous post Alzheimer’s Disease –…

View original post 549 more words

Brief and uninspiring beginnings

My wife created a blog which is all to do with science and her work in the field of science. Out of jealousy and the want to be able to ‘like’ her blog, I have decided to create my own. I am usually a firm believer in not speaking unless you have something important to say, but since I tend to have a poor grasp of what may or may not be important I shall aim to ‘blog’ much here, on the off chance it may be of some importance or entertainment to someone.

Me dressed as an elephant, drinking from several conjoined straws.
Me dressed as an elephant, drinking from several conjoined straws.

WordPress have helpfully suggested that I might like to write my blog about my job or interests. I intend to follow that sound advice and thusly this blog may contain informations on teaching (secondary and special needs), games (computer and console), craft (knitting and crochet), sports (figure skating and misc), photography, music, theatre, film, arts and the attempted cultivation of various plants. Also whatever else that I might have done or be doing etc.

So please read if you have the time and inclination.

Ta very much.