I realise how little I actually know when I open the Wikipedia page and read that caffeine is classified as a psychoactive substance.
Every morning, for most of my adult life, I have been waking up and making myself a nice cup of coffee beans and psychoactive.
And it had never occurred to me to check up on why too many caffeinated drinks make my behaviour so odd.
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant of the methylxanthine variety and can produce dependence when consumed regularly, with a cessation in consumption resulting in withdrawal effects such as headaches and drowsiness.
I like to think that I'm not that dependent on coffee and that if I skip out on a cup in the morning it isn't going to be a real problem for me.
But since I've started writing my dissertation I have got into a routine that involves coffee in the morning and coffee in the afternoon.
If I'm honest, I kind of hate it.
The taste of coffee gets me going but the side effects I'm not so keen on.
Last weekend I slept for too long and woke up with a headache that went away only after two cups of coffee, and a lot of the time coffee just vamps up my stress levels.
Coffee makes my hands shake and my brain go at lightning speed when I haven't had enough to eat, or if I foolishly drink it before eating.
And once it's inside you it's not easy to get rid of.
I drink it when I'm hungry and for a while it limits my appetite and makes me chatty and pleasant, and then I crash and suddenly I am insufferable and my mouth is dry and I feel simultaneously wide awake and completely unable to concentrate.
Does coffee do this to other people? Probably.
I've only ever met a couple of people who are able to just throw back coffee with little to no negative after-effects, the same way that I've only ever known a couple of people who are able to party hard and still live their lives productively.
If caffeine is a psychoactive substance, then does drinking it in some form every day count as partying hard every day?
Is coffee killing off my brain cells?
Once I knew a girl in high school who took too many caffeine pills and had to go to hospital because her heart was beating so fast.
And when I was 16 my friends and I did the V48 Hour film festival and I drank so many energy drinks that I had to lie on the sofa because I thought I was going to have a coronary.
I don't really care enough to do in-depth research about this.
I only care enough that I cut caffeine out of my life semi-regularly because when I'm stressed, it sends me through the roof and it costs me more money than I care to admit.
Coffee is big business. So many people drink it every day it is almost hard to fathom.
America is famous for its consumption of terrible coffee, and New Zealand is developing its own coffee niche rife with snobbery and twee decor.
It's quite incredible that we wander around seeking and drinking a beverage whose most appealing component is its psychoactive properties.
I wonder how many people are sitting around the boardroom table with a cup of coffee while discussing the legality of other substances.
At its heart it's a somewhat silly comparison to make, but after my third cup of coffee I really do wonder who decided caffeinated beverages were OK and meant for daily consumption.
- Millie Lovelock is a Dunedin student.
