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Caffeine is a drug that tons of us take every day. But is that a bad thing? And if we get it in the form of energy drinks, is that super dangerous? We talk to Dr. Astrid Nehlig, Prof. Gregory Marcus, and Prof. Sachin Shah.
Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsCaffeineEnergyDrinks
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Chapter 1: We love/hate caffeine
(02:12) Chapter 2: Coffee and our guts
(07:12) Chapter 3: Coffee and our brains
(12:40) Chapter 4: Coffee and our zzzzzzs
(17:42) Chapter 5: Coffee makes us go vroom vroom vroom!
(20:30) Chapter 6: Are we caffeine addicts?
(28:04) Chapter 7: Are energy drinks dangerous?
This episode was produced by Rose Rimler, with help from Wendy Zukerman, as well as Nick DelRose, Joel Werner, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Sarah Baum. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. Special thanks to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode – including Dr. Bryan Saunders, Dr. Sergi Ferré, Prof. Andreas Heinz, Prof. Christine Curran, Dr. Erikka Loftfield, Dr. Felix Oberhoffer, Dr. Alan Wayne Jones, and Dr. Vijay Yadav. Extra special thanks to Jason Vytlacil and the Zukerman family.
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How does a behavioral scientist apply her knowledge to her own life? What fraction of our behaviors are deliberative, and what fraction are automatic? In what ways are we insufficiently scientific in our attempts to diagnose behavior problems? To what extent is introspection important for behavior change? Can behavior change take place without relatively accurate quantification and measurement? (For example, we know exact values for our bank account balance or our weight on the scale, but we don't know exact values for our level of happiness or how much progress we've made in meditation. To encourage behavior change in those more nebulous domains, is it useful to assign numbers to everything?) Can (and should) "sacred" things be quantified? What's the difference between customs and norms? Why do we often fail to generalize our own skills from one domain to other domains? How can we use stories to encourage behavior change? What are some new and different ways of connecting with others, especially during a pandemic? How can everyday items or events be tweaked to encourage behavior change?
Ting Jiang is a global expert and thought leader in behavioral change and innovation. She received her Ph.D. in Experimental Economics but publishes findings across a broad range of disciplines. For the past 5 years, until January 1st, 2021, she served as a principal at Dan Ariely's behavioral science lab at Duke University, during which she led projects globally helping diverse organizations, companies, and tech startups to improve the behavioral uptake and retention of programs and products. The work she is most proud of is her own attempt to develop various science-based games for behavioral change, including a board game called "Healthy Money" for forming better spending and saving habits. Most recently, she's been calling for a collective reflection on whether the world is currently in the dark ages of human flourishing despite our advancement in tech and natural sciences. Find out more about her here.
