Coffee Break

Quartz’s comprehensive guide to drinking coffee at work is full of fun gems like:

Coffee eases the pain of working at a desk

There’s a reason why computer programmers are so wired: Consuming caffeine has been found to ease pain in the neck, shoulders, forearms, and wrists that are often experienced by those of us who are chained to our keyboards.

And:

Coffee can make a stressful situation more stressful

Caffeine can “exaggerate sympathetic adrenal-medullary responses to the stressful events of normal daily life.” Translation: It makes your blood pressure rise and spikes levels of adrenaline, both of which are associated with higher levels of self-reported stress. The effect doesn’t diminish when you leave the office.

Which means if you’re stressed out and need to take a break, it should probably not be a coffee break. Instead, use the time to pet the office kitten (we should all have office kittens).

Photo: Dan4th

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