Alcohol and Caffeine.

Buddhist ethical conduct including the Five Precepts (Pañcasikkhāpada), and Eightfold Ethical Conduct (Aṭṭhasīla).
davcuts
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:03 am
Location: Asheville, North Carolina

Re: Alcohol and Caffeine.

Post by davcuts »

I don't believe caffeine is an intoxicant at least not to the point it affects someone ability to function properly. I've never heard anyone getting a DUI from drinking coffee, tea, and soft drinks for instance. I drink four glasses of soda a day. The only thing that hurts me is if I drink it after 8pm. I tend not to be able to sleep. Still I don't feel I'm intoxicated. As for alcohol I hate it. The first time I got drunk I was 28. I'm a control freak and anything that makes me feel like I'm losing control sucks. If I have alcohol these days its a glass of wine with dinner. I've not even had a glass of wine in 5 years. I don't feel I've broken my vow of sustaining from intoxicants because of caffeine. I would if I had alcohol, especially if my intention was to get wasted. I don't feel it's even possible to get "wasted" on caffeine.
User avatar
pink_trike
Posts: 1130
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:29 am
Contact:

Re: Alcohol and Caffeine.

Post by pink_trike »

Happy Morning!!!!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... ent=safari" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
User avatar
Ben
Posts: 18438
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:49 am
Location: kanamaluka

Re: Alcohol and Caffeine.

Post by Ben »

Hi Pink
pink_trike wrote:Well said, but we can still participate in these events if we're confidently on our dot. Quentin Crisp once said something to the effect of "If you find yourself in circumstances that are inconsistent with your own values, give only your name, rank, and serial number and hold firm - eventually everyone will join you". Which I take to mean that when we stick to our convictions without being a nagging bore about them, we are modeling beneficial behavior that other people may eventually adopt. I find that sila is attractive to many people once they get over their habitual reactions to it (and then the questions begin to fly).
I'm not advocating boorish behaviour. When I'm in social situations where alcohol is being used as the social lubricant I politely decline offers of alcoholic beverages and go for something non-alcoholic. I just tell people that I don't drink. And 99 times out of 100, that is the end of the matter and everyone gets on just fine. My observation is that there seems to be a lot more non-drinkers than 20 years ago and so I don't stand out as a bizarre social curiosity (for my non-drinking). Only once recently did I have to explain my reluctance to serve alcohol as part of a catering function that I was invited to work at/. And there the response was that they would separate the roles of the people working so that I wouldn't have to serve alcohol.
I just don't tolerate people insisting that I should drink.
Metta

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
User avatar
cooran
Posts: 8503
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: Queensland, Australia

Re: Alcohol and Caffeine.

Post by cooran »

Hello all,

Regarding caffeine - meindzai posted this elsewhere. Each topic has a Scientific and an Educational Paper:

The Effects of Caffeine and Coffee on Health

This series of health care papers, based on numerous medical studies, document the effects of coffee and caffeine on health conditions that affect millions of people. Coffee drinking, both decaf and regular, aggravates symptoms of a wide variety of chronic and acute conditions that increase suffering and limit people’s enjoyment of life.
Over a decade of marketing Teeccino and hearing daily of people’s experiences improving their health when they quit caffeine and coffee, has convinced me of the necessity to educate people about the health consequences of caffeine addiction.
The scientific papers with full scientific citations are designed for use by health care professionals, writers and researchers.
An educational summary for each health condition provides easy reading that covers the top reasons for being caffeine-free.

On Weight Loss
Fertility, Menopause, Breast and Uterine Health
On Aging
On Stress
Effects of Decaffeinated Coffee
On Cardiovascular Disease Including:
High Blood Pressure, Arrhythmias, High Cholesterol
On Heartburn
Acid Reflux & GERD
On Diabetes, Insulin Resistance Syndrome & Hypoglycemia
On Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn's Disease & Colitis
On Interstitial Cystitis and Cystitis
http://www.teeccino.com/caffeineeffects.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
User avatar
Lazy_eye
Posts: 996
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:23 pm
Location: Laurel, MD
Contact:

Re: Alcohol and Caffeine.

Post by Lazy_eye »

Individual wrote:Do you use caffeine or alcohol? What in your opinion is the consequence for the habitual use of these two substances? On alcohol, not necessarily alcoholism, but the kind of person who likes to get drunk occasionally, or even somewhat often, but in such a way that it does not interfere with their family life or employment.
Thanks for the topic. :)

DIscovering Buddhism a few years ago was the reason I stopped using alcohol on a regular basis. I pondered the Fifth Precept for awhile, then decided it was worth a try. And generally speaking, nothing since has suggested any good reason to take up drinking.

However, I'm not 100% in observance -- I have a glass of wine or beer occasionally at family or social gatherings. If someone invites my family over for dinner and hands me a Bud, I'll probably accept it -- even though in this case, the issue isn't just the precept, but the horrible quality of the beer. :juggling:

I've also switched from coffee to tea. I used to consume so much coffee that it gave me heart palpitations -- an experience so strange that I ended up going to the doctor, fearing a heart problem.

As for the effects of alcohol, well, I researched those intensively during my teens and twenties. And some conclusions stand out. One is that you start to crave the experience of intoxication, so you start becoming less and less patient with normal, non-intoxicated life. Gradually everything becomes a pain in the rear which you need to get out of the way so you can get to the important business of drinking. Alcohol brings about a wonderful, God-like feeling. When you're not drinking, you feel irritable...the solution to which is more drinking.

The other is that you lose inhibitions. And yes, that can be fun...however, it's the "quick and easy" way to do this, and like most quick and easy solutions (ramen noodles, bug spray, McDonald's dollar menu) there are side effects. Also, people may not always find your uninhibited self as charming as you do while drunk.

And finally, it's a kind of dependence...like having a baby bottle to carry around. I just read a great memoir about a son's experiences with an alcoholic father -- "A Wolf at the Table", by Augusten Burroughs. The guy was so chained to his bottle of sherry that he couldn't bring himself to play catch with his son or even exchange more than three sentences. It's really, ah, sobering.

Metta,
LE
Post Reply