Gabor Mate, in "Scattered" has an excellnt metaphoric explanation of why stimulants work for ADD. I have to paraphrase here, since I still cannot find my book. He likens the brain to an intersection with six or seven feeder roads. There is a policeman in the center, directing traffic (I believe the policeman is the frontal cortex, which has a hard time starting up in people with ADD.) When the policeman is on duty, all goes smoothly. If the policeman falls asleep, there are accidents, traffic jams, gridlock. Stimulants awaken the policeman, and traffic moves again. Caffeine is a stimulant.
Last week a member of my peer supervision group was discussing her difficulty recently as she struggled to give up caffeine. She got completely disorganized, lost her short term memory, her keys, you name it. It seems that caffeine was helping her ADD.
Though I missed the article the day before yesterday, evidently caffeine helps to prevent Type II diabetes and Alzheimer's.
I stopped drinking caffeine about three years ago, in the evidently mistaken notion that it wasn't good for me.
I just ground me up a big batch of Starbucks French Roast. Let's see if there's any improvement.
Posted by Dakota at January 10, 2004 06:48 AM