It's Not Just In Your Head: Study Says Coffee Makes You More Focused At Work

This is not exactly news to me, as a recent effort to give up caffeine (I know, why in the world) has caused me to be a bit befuddled at 9 a.m. staff meetings, seemingly unable to perform simple tasks like pasting the right link into the correct Slack channel. Fearing a brain tumor or early onset senility, I was greatly relieved to read this New York Post article today, which assures me that coffee does in fact positively affect your work abilities.

It's based on a (granted, small) study reported on in the Journal Of Psychopharmacology. Researchers divided 134 coffee-drinking college students into two groups to discuss Occupy Wall Street for 15 minutes. The Post reports, "Participants who had a pre-discussion cup of coffee reported having an easier time focusing on their peers." Study author Vasa Unnava explains that "The study was conducted using people who consume coffee regularly. For these people, it looks like coffee does make them feel more alert, focuses their thinking on the topic or task at hand and has them participate more in group tasks."

I knew it! Can we add this note then to my quickly sinking employee performance evaluation? "Recently became caffeine-free."