caffeine?

_tim

Well-Known Member
I've read so many points and counterpoints about caffeine on varying websites. So, my friends who seemingly know just about everything about the human body and how it is affected by different things (no, I'm not kidding) - help me out. What effect does caffeine have on us as bodybuilders, especially during the hours or days post-workout? I know that some pre-workout supplements have caffeine to boost energy levels, but what happens metabolically (if anything) when you ingest caffeine as muscle tissue is repaired and grows?
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">What effect does caffeine have on us as bodybuilders, especially during the hours or days post-workout?</div>
Don't know about you, but I don't stray too far from the john!
Coffee may be beneficial, since it's antioxidant, but doesn't have a full spectrum of them:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news....ee.html -
...and we allready eat our broccolli.
Caffeine alone:
http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/caffeine/a/caffeinefacts.htm
...hehe, even I don't have enough time or mind right now to study all this. Edit: Well, my lady has a chick flick on so I'm on a roll...
It's possible that for the reasons in the article above (the half-life of caffeine) that all the beneficial sleep stages may not be occurring, regardless of the hours in the sack. As we know, GH secretion happens in the deep stages and is when we grow.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> A study by Van Cauter, Leproult, and Plat [6] used 149 healthy men as subjects ages 16 to 83. Blood samples were taken for growth hormone measurement every 15 to 30 minutes for 24 hours. At night subjects were allowed to sleep for 8 hours and all-night polygraphic sleep recordings were obtained. The results showed that subjects with high SWS (average SWS percentage of 24%) also had high growth hormone secretion, an average of 275µg. Subjects with low SWS (average SWS percentage of 9%) also had low growth hormone secretion, an average of 150µg.


[edit] Anabolic/catabolic cycle
Non-REM sleep may be an anabolic state marked by physiological processes of growth and rejuvenation of the organism's immune, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems (but see above). Wakefulness may perhaps be viewed as a cyclical, temporary, hyperactive catabolic state during which the organism acquires nourishment and procreates.</div>
 
Hey quad -

Thanks for the articles and for the study data. I knew that GH secretion happened while we slept - something I know I don't help by only getting maybe 6 hours of sleep per night. Regardless, I've been concerned that this old book I have was correct in its declaration that coffee is a detriment to bodybuilding/strength training.

I'm relieved that (at least in 2008), research suggests that coffee ain't so bad.
 
I drink a lot of coffee and tea, it hasn't done anything to hinder my growth that I know of. On the other hand, I do have bouts of insomnia and even when I don't have insomnia, I still wake up frequently throughout the night. But... that is not due to the caffeine, as I've tried cutting all of that out and still had the problems.
The only problem I can think of is that you can develop quite a dependency on caffeine. Considering that it is one of the most readily available drugs in the world, I don't see this as much of a problem.
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Jan. 04 2008,21:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> <div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">What effect does caffeine have on us as bodybuilders, especially during the hours or days post-workout?</div>
Don't know about you, but I don't stray too far from the john!
Coffee may be beneficial, since it's antioxidant, but doesn't have a full spectrum of them:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news....ee.html -
...and we allready eat our broccolli.
Caffeine alone:
http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/caffeine/a/caffeinefacts.htm
...hehe, even I don't have enough time or mind right now to study all this. Edit: Well, my lady has a chick flick on so I'm on a roll...
It's possible that for the reasons in the article above (the half-life of caffeine) that all the beneficial sleep stages may not be occurring, regardless of the hours in the sack. As we know, GH secretion happens in the deep stages and is when we grow.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> A study by Van Cauter, Leproult, and Plat [6] used 149 healthy men as subjects ages 16 to 83. Blood samples were taken for growth hormone measurement every 15 to 30 minutes for 24 hours. At night subjects were allowed to sleep for 8 hours and all-night polygraphic sleep recordings were obtained. The results showed that subjects with high SWS (average SWS percentage of 24%) also had high growth hormone secretion, an average of 275µg. Subjects with low SWS (average SWS percentage of 9%) also had low growth hormone secretion, an average of 150µg.


[edit] Anabolic/catabolic cycle
Non-REM sleep may be an anabolic state marked by physiological processes of growth and rejuvenation of the organism's immune, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems (but see above). Wakefulness may perhaps be viewed as a cyclical, temporary, hyperactive catabolic state during which the organism acquires nourishment and procreates.</div></div>
What is SWS ?
 
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