Posts Tagged ‘caffeine awareness’

The Truth Behind Caffeine Awareness Month

Monday, March 1st, 2010

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Our friend Big Red Boots over at the Caffeine Examiner and PossessedbyCaffeine.com has put out a great article on what is really behind this PR push. Also check out the link at the end to read EnergyFiend’s equally great article about the same thing. Stay educated and STAY UP!

By Big Red Boots:

Let’s say that there was a book written about the dangers of sugar. This bookno_caffeine1 wrote how sugar is addictive, and too much of it can lead to all sorts of serious health problems, like tooth decay and obesity. This book then goes on to link the serious medical dangers of diabetes – and urged the public to give up on their sugar addiction. It even mentions how a person should stay away from eating foods with natural sugars, such as apples and grapes. There could even be a chapter on the hidden dangers of corn.

Almost no person would be surprised by this. The fact that too much sugar could be bad for you is widely known to children and adults alike. Still, this has not slowed down the purchase of candy, chocolate or even fruit. There are no Sugar Anonymous groups, no fructose treatment centers and no one blaming a sugar rush for the cause of accidents and bad behavior, running to the hills hiding from gangs of schoolchildren with Slurpees in their veins.

There certainly is no Sugar Awareness Month. Although this March is the National Play-the-Recorder Month, so Sugar Awareness .

However, there is a Caffeine Awareness Month this March, call attention to the dangers of caffeine dependency and intoxication. 3 states have instituted this awareness month, are Nebraska, Connecticut, and Oklahoma. The 4 cities that have issued proclamations so far have been Euless and Grapevine Texas, Roanoke Virginia, and Buffalo New York. Other states and cities are expected to issue similar proclamations.

Marina Kushner, an author of two books on the “hidden” dangers of caffeine, is the woman behind Caffeine Awareness Month. In the 2 books that are featured prominently for sale on her non-profit website, caffeineawareness.com, she reveals “frightening evidence” that caffeine can produce mood swings and insomnia, increased muscle tension, impair digestion and nutrition, restrict blood circulation to the brain, raise blood pressure and accelerate the heart rate.

Of course, the “frightening” evidence that caffeine can keep you awake at night, make you grumpy if you don’t have your morning cup of Joe, and that too much can make your tummy sour must be revelatory. Caffeine is the world’s most used drug, and found in substances all over the world. People have been drinking caffeine for thousands of years, and the effects of caffeine addiction are common knowledge.

What is revelatory is how a woman who wrote an easily dismissed book on the “dangers” of a non-dangerous drug has somehow managed to work herself a nice public relations gig, driving people to her website to buy her books and subscribe to her e-newsletter on the dangers of green tea and decaf coffee. Not that this is the only “month” for march, as the list of awareness month groups have piled on.

This march is also Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month, Clean Up Your IRS Act Month, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Craft Month, Credit Education Month, Eye Donor Month, Irish-American Heritage Month, Women’s History Month, Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month, Kidney Month, Listening Awareness Month, March into Literacy Month, Poison Prevention Awareness Month, Red Cross Month, Save Your Vision Month, Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month.

But that’s not all. Other Dubious awareness groups are celebrating their months as well. March is also Ethics Awareness Month, Employee Spirit Month, Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month, Frozen Food Month, Humorists Are Artists Month, Music in our Schools Month, On-Hold Month, Optimism Month, Peanut Month, Sing with Your Child Month, Small Press Month, Social Work Month, Spiritual Wellness Month, and of course, who can forget National Umbrella Month.

Rather than have another reason to stress out that even your coffee has nefarious plans to turn you into a zombie, celebrate your caffeine addiction at work with safety goggles, be optimistic while drinking your Coke and meditating, and enjoy your energy drink while singing with your kids in the rain.

for more information on the siliness of Caffeine Awareness Month, click to energyfiend.com.