OnlineFreelance.com

Every freelancer knows that usually his salary depends directly on the number of his working hours and many people try to push the number of hour to maximum with the help of an old friend – caffeine. Also a freelancer, especially a freelance newcomer very often has the problem of having too much work that just can’t be handled in an 8-12 working hours day and this problem is solved with coffee filled extra working hours. OnlineFreelance has a positive attitude towards coffee and energy drinks, still in this article we will warn our readers about some of the dangers of consuming caffeine.

Coffee is the best way to keep you concentrated and working. For me even holding a cup of coffee gets me into working mood. It keeps you awake and has a proven positive effect on your brain functions. After its 22-year study on coffee the Harvard School of Public Health stated that: “the overall balance of risks and benefits [of coffee consumption] are on the side of benefits.” Still there is a general limit for coffee consumption: not more that seven-eight cups per day for an adult. People also have different caffeine tolerance so maybe for some of our readers three-four cups will be enough.

Energy drinks are even a more effective caffeine filled solution. A Red Bull can actually keep you up for three to four hours and it is a good thing for an emergency. But remember that consuming of more than three to four cans of energy drinks per day is very dangerous. If you happen to be younger that 18, than you limit is probably one per day. As for the sad facts, until 2008 France banned Red Bull after the death of eighteen-year-old Irish athlete Ross Cooney, who consumed four cans of this Energy Drink. He died as a result of playing basketball, but this case shows how “effective” energy drinks can be. Today some advocates even try to pursue government organizations on placing a warning logo on energy drinks, similar to warning logos on alcohol and tobacco.

Another effect of caffeine is that it increases the production of stomach acid. So when you are consuming too much coffee, you will be followed by hunger. If you will ignore your hunger or try to satisfy it with junk food, this could lead to stomach problems. As for the heart problems if you already have some try to limit your coffee consumption and avoid energy drinks. A good solution is a careful and effective planning of your working hours, this could help you to avoid caffeine at all and take it just in some emergency cases. Also it is useful to get some exercise, a freelancer has the unique opportunity to make some exercise breaks right during work time. The biggest problem is that most people don’t believe in any of the serious health issues before they actually face it. Everyone who is working in IT has three or five friends that have health problems gained from caffeine, but most people ignore these warnings.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 08:44 and is filed under uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.