Alcohol | Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

Thank You Ozzy (Caffeine)

14-08-2019

I had researched in the past, and failed, to find out why a quarter of a cup of coffee (well, equivalent, I take 1/4 or less or a “No Doze” tablet”), affects me for 36 hours. I can party hard, sleep for a few hours, and struggle to sleep at midnight the next day. From 1/4 of a cup of coffee.

If I have one cup of actual coffee, sober, the effects are unbearable.

So, 2 things are going on. One is that I must be a “slow metaboliser” of caffeine, just like Ozzy Osbourne (which is how I learned all of this).

Ironically, Osbourne’s genes suggest that he is a slow metabolizer of coffee, meaning that he would be more affected by caffeine.

“Turns out that Ozzy’s kryptonite is caffeine,” Conde said.

15 percent of people carry two copies of the slow variant and are slow metabolizers.

That gene can be linked to more chance of heart attacks, but only for people having a lot of coffee (not me, I figure):

If you are a Slow Metabolizer then your genetic makeup indicates you process caffeine at a slower rate and, as a result, caffeine may have longer-lasting stimulant effects. Slow metabolizers may experience negative side effects of caffeine consumption to a higher degree such as insomnia, anxiety, and upset stomach. There is also evidence linking slow metabolizers with an increased risk of having a nonfatal heart attack and/or high blood pressure with higher amounts of coffee intake.

The other factor is that I only take caffeine when I drink. Or, rather, the other way around. Caffeine nullifies my chronic fatigue, but I can’t get to sleep when on it unless I am quite drunk:

Alcohol has an inhibitory effect on CYP1A2 activity (the enzyme involved in caffeine clearance). Alcohol intake of 50g per day prolongs caffeine half-life by 72% and decreases caffeine clearance by 36%

50g of alcohol is around 3 standard drinks. And I drink quite a bit more than that. I couldn’t find any data on how more than 50g affects caffeine clearance, but presumably it makes things worse.

So, problem, solved, after decades of wondering. I am certainly not the only one, as it is just a factor of genes and alcohol consumption.

Drink Driving But Not

By: Robert Skelton

22-01-2017

Alcohol

Parallel Drinking

Necking beers at home so you are in the same state as when he/she/them gets home.

Double Parked

This is a technique for heavy drinkers to slow down when need arises. When you have almost finished a beer, buy another. Place the full beer behind the first. Every time you reach for the first, emptier beer, you will see the other full beer is in play. The neck this and buy another instinct is gone. The oddness reminds you of why you are trying to slow down. Raise the emptier beer to your lips and just let the beer touch them. Put it down.

Those last drops can last an hour.

Tow Away Zone

This is where someone, if they stay five minutes longer, will be incapable of getting home on their own.

Ability to Maintain the Sweet Spot

By: Robert Skelton

04-01-2017

Alcohol, Drugs, Relationships

Aaaah, the sweet spot. The place where magic happens because all of the planets align – but typically those planets are called drugs, effort, alcohol and desire.

For me it has manifested itself the most when playing pool. Many pool players have experienced the sweet spot, and strive to achieve it every time they play. It is a time when they can do no wrong, and unfortunately it doesn’t last long. I’d say 10-15 minutes tops.

While I can see how the abstinent and the stoners could have a similar sweet spot, I believe it predominantly belongs to the drinkers. It is hard to strike a ball smoothly when stuck in sober reality, but as the beers or more kick in so does the smoothness and confidence. Before long you are in a league of your own, and shortly after that you have peaked and fail quite terribly.

As, I said, it is a well-known phenomenon in pool, but perhaps it is a universal principle that can be applied to a wide variety of situations?

I mentioned a combination of drugs, effort, alcohol and desire.. If theoretically drugs, alcohol and effort were limitless, I suggest that desire wanes.

To take it a step further, perhaps desire is allocated according to long-term returns? If you are thinking of winning a game or a tournament, your desire might wane quite soon. If you are fixated on being the world snooker champion, then your desire might last longer.

Desire is most associated with romance, and I’d like to think that they who desire for love last longer than those who wish to win a game of pool or two.

[and I figure that all desire comes from a base of wanting to be loved]

Example: Gary Numan. He had the tunes to some degree, but was lacking looks or a voice. Normally all three are required. Not for Numan, because his desire to succeed rode over all barriers.

Live musical performance is a ritual, and rituals feed the flames of desire. I suggest that one-hit-wonders are just that because they tend not to tour, and have no ritual.

Yep, it is all just in your head.

Drink Beer Slower From Straight Glasses

By: Robert Skelton

04-09-2012

Alcohol, Science

If your beer mug / pint / schooner / pot glass has curves or is fluted – then it is tricking you into thinking that you have much more left to drink than you really do.

In a paper published this month in PLoS ONE, the team reports that whereas the group with straight glasses nursed their 354 milliliters of lager for about 13 minutes, the group with the same amount of beer served in curved glasses finished in less than 8 minutes, drinking alcohol almost as quickly as the soda-drinkers guzzled their pop. However, the researchers observed no differences between people drinking 177 milliliters of beer out of straight versus fluted glasses.

They drank while watching a nature video – chosen as a neutral way of keeping them occupied while they sipped beer as in a social situation.

Another experiment in which participants were asked to judge different levels of fluid in photographs of straight and curved glasses showed that people consistently misjudge the volume in fluted glasses, Attwood says. A simple solution to this problem would be to mark beer glasses with the accurate halfway point, she says. Full story.

— Bob-a-job-alog-a-roonie

Thank You Ozzy (Caffeine)

Drink Driving But Not

Ability to Maintain the Sweet Spot

Drink Beer Slower From Straight Glasses

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