Fight, Flight or Coffee?

I used to work in a big IT Services firm in the DFW area. There was this one fellow I worked with who demonstrated behavior consistent with the shallow, “macho” man. He seemed to think he was some sort of a badass. I didn’t work directly with him, but we were in the same building and had the usual hallway meetings. We all know the type. Strutting around like the big man on campus, just oozing excess testosterone.

Anyway, he stopped to “talk” with me a bit. Typical “man” chit chat. He made a move as if to backhand me in the face. He was trying make me flinch…blink..backup or otherwise perceive the “threat”. It was not serious as such, as he had no intention of actually striking me. He stopped his hand about 1/4 inch from my face. I didn’t blink, flinch, move backwards or otherwise even acknowledge what he had done.

Rather than being enough of a badass myself to not respond out of intention, I think it may have been related to my coffee consumption. I think it scared him though, as he never even spoke to me again.

I was a big coffee drinker, consuming over 3 pots daily for quite some time. I used to think coffee, and caffeine in particular, was a capillary dialator and woke you up by increasing the blood flow to the brain. As it turns out, this is not the case. In fact, caffeine actually restricts blood flow in the brain. It wakes you up by stimulating the Flight or Fight response. It quite literally scares you awake.

Apparently, my excess use of coffee had numbed my Flight or Fight response. This is both a good and bad thing, as it allows me to be thoughtful about my actions before taking any…but…if “instant” action is appropriate, I may be too slow. I do however have a good “Spidey Sense” in that the hair on the back of my neck will stand up if I am in a dangerous situation, whether it is obvious or not.