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Interesting how "quitting coffee" makes it up the rounds, and pretty much all the discussion perceives "quitting is good," -- but there's quite a bit of at leas

by jrm4 1y ago

Interesting how "quitting coffee" makes it up the rounds, and pretty much all the discussion perceives "quitting is good," -- but there's quite a bit of at least plausible evidence, both modern scientific as well as really old school, that suggest that coffee is really good for you?

umvi 1y ago
You can frame anything as being good for you if you search for reasons and ignore any downsides: - "Coffee reduces risk of developing Parkinson's" - "Wine helps reduce heart disease" - "Nicotine stimulates cognitive function" Like many other drugs, caffeine has some upsides, but also some pretty significant downsides (its dependency-forming properties being one of the big ones). And since this is HN, adding new dependencies to your life seems analogous to code: Introducing new dependencies to your repo should be done thoughtfully and carefully. Sometimes the pros outweigh the cons (the dependency does something that would save you a ton of work), but there are usually downsides to taking on dependencies as well (increased security liability, relinquished control over part of your stack, more build complexity, slower builds, etc)
- jrm4 1y ago
  Your code analogy is horrifically bad. It strongly suggests against, e.g. the covid vaccine.
  - ifyoubuildit 1y ago
    > It strongly suggests against, e.g. the covid vaccine. Is that why the analogy is bad? In other words, if a line of reasoning leads you away from the covid shot, then that line of reasoning must be flawed (horrifically, even)?
  - umvi 1y ago
    I'm having trouble following your reasoning. Covid vaccines are not physiologically dependency-forming, unless you just use your own will power to decide that you want to turn it into a dependency in your life. though they do have other trade offs (risk of getting ill, etc).
frankohn 1y ago
It seems that coffee has a health benefit for preventing gout. Gout used to be quite a common health problem in the past, and apparently coffee may offer some protection.
AstroBen 1y ago
From the data I've seen I'd take it as far as if you're not drinking coffee and you care about improving your health, you should really consider starting The main downside is it effecting your sleep, which for most people can be controlled by not having it after a certain time
vorpalhex 1y ago
Conflation is very easy to do here. If you are very sick, you probably aren't drinking coffee (it's a mild stomach irritant). So there is a correlation between coffee and being healthy, but causation is very messy.
- jrm4 1y ago
  In both directions, then. Again, I'm very very comfortable with. Wait -- millions of people have been drinking coffee daily FOR YEARS, with VERY FEW visibly super-harmful side effects. That data is as good as, or perhaps better than, modern medical data -- which ITSELF cuts both ways.

by jrm4 1y ago

umvi 1y ago

You can frame anything as being good for you if you search for reasons and ignore any downsides: - "Coffee reduces risk of developing Parkinson's" - "Wine helps reduce heart disease" - "Nicotine stimulates cognitive function" Like many other drugs, caffeine has some upsides, but also some pretty significant downsides (its dependency-forming properties being one of the big ones). And since this is HN, adding new dependencies to your life seems analogous to code: Introducing new dependencies to your repo should be done thoughtfully and carefully. Sometimes the pros outweigh the cons (the dependency does something that would save you a ton of work), but there are usually downsides to taking on dependencies as well (increased security liability, relinquished control over part of your stack, more build complexity, slower builds, etc)

jrm4 1y ago
Your code analogy is horrifically bad. It strongly suggests against, e.g. the covid vaccine.
- ifyoubuildit 1y ago
  > It strongly suggests against, e.g. the covid vaccine. Is that why the analogy is bad? In other words, if a line of reasoning leads you away from the covid shot, then that line of reasoning must be flawed (horrifically, even)?
- umvi 1y ago
  I'm having trouble following your reasoning. Covid vaccines are not physiologically dependency-forming, unless you just use your own will power to decide that you want to turn it into a dependency in your life. though they do have other trade offs (risk of getting ill, etc).

frankohn 1y ago

It seems that coffee has a health benefit for preventing gout. Gout used to be quite a common health problem in the past, and apparently coffee may offer some protection.

AstroBen 1y ago

From the data I've seen I'd take it as far as if you're not drinking coffee and you care about improving your health, you should really consider starting The main downside is it effecting your sleep, which for most people can be controlled by not having it after a certain time

vorpalhex 1y ago

Conflation is very easy to do here. If you are very sick, you probably aren't drinking coffee (it's a mild stomach irritant). So there is a correlation between coffee and being healthy, but causation is very messy.

jrm4 1y ago
In both directions, then. Again, I'm very very comfortable with. Wait -- millions of people have been drinking coffee daily FOR YEARS, with VERY FEW visibly super-harmful side effects. That data is as good as, or perhaps better than, modern medical data -- which ITSELF cuts both ways.