Don't Take My EQ!

Emotional intelligence. Apparently this is a thing and we all want it. Emotional Intelligence, known as EQ, is made up of 4 skills and affects our decision making, how we act in social situations, and how we manage our behavior. The 4 skills that make up EQ are self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management. EQ is a set of skills that we can improve upon and strengthen during our lives--its not like an IQ that you are born with. Anyway, Forbes says we all want to have the highest emotional intelligence possible--apparently it makes for a better life. And if Forbes says so, then I believe it. So, why are we discussing EQ? Because one of the biggest killers of our EQ is one of the drugs we recently discussed in class?

What do you think it is? One of the crazy hallucinogens? LSD since I seem to bring that up a lot? Cocaine? Meth? No, all wrong.

Caffeine? Ding Ding Ding! You got it! Cutting down on your caffeine can actually increase your emotional intelligence!

The issue is, cutting down on caffeine for most caffeine drinkers is a pretty hard thing--I'm sure Mrs. Perl could attest to that. Caffeine can be pretty darn addictive. Let's discuss. Caffeine makes you feel alert by releasing dopamine and exciting neural activity. Studies have even shown that caffeine can actually improve cognitive task performance in the short term. BUT WAIT. It's not actually true! It's all lies! Here's what actually happens, according to the John Hopkins Medical School, when people stop consuming caffeine they go through a withdrawal making your cognitive performance worse and worsening your mood. When you go back on caffeine, you feel on top of the world (like most drugs) and your cognitive performance gets better--but its really just going back to normal.

Drinking caffeine, such as coffee, also triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline, as we know, is the source of the fight-or-flight response which takes place in the parasympathetic nervous system. When we're in this mode, we tend to not make the most rational decisions--we just make quick decisions. Caffeine can put your body into a hyper-alert state, similar to when its in a fight-or-flight response making your emotions take over so you make irrational decisions and become irritable or anxious.

When we sleep, our mind clears and recharges. According to one theory for why we dream, our mind goes through all of the day's memories and decides whether to keep them or get rid of them. This makes us wake up more alert and with a clear mind. Having caffeine in your bloodstream makes it very difficult to sleep. Not getting enough sleep can have pretty negative effects on your memory, self control, alertness, and attention. Even if you do fall asleep, caffeine reduces your REM sleep which is when you are in deep sleep and you have the most vivid dreams. This lack of sleep, or quality sleep, makes people feel emotionally drained and sluggish in the morning causing them to go for more caffeine which makes your body produce more adrenaline which only makes it worse. The combination of the lack of sleep and caffeine make you feel more tired later in the day, causing you to need more caffeine which is why people still have it in their bloodstream when they are going to sleep.

Thus, the cycle of caffeine addiction is born.