Interesting Differences

Well, over the course of the morning.. from about 9am to the current time, I've been drinking mate and doing logic homework. I managed to complete my assignment and subsequently managed to drink 4 cups of mate. Woooooie! Definitely buzzing. Now that im done my homework and thinking about the effects of the mate it has become clearly evident that there are some peculiar differences from traditional caffeine. So, being my inquisitive self, I looked into some research and came to some interesting conclusions.

For many years, and even now, in some sectors, yerbamate' was (is) thought to contain caffeine. It turns out that mateine is not identical to caffeine; it differs from caffeine in some rather dramatic ways. -Daniel Mowry, PhD

Well, this much I had already established. But I pressed further and found out this:

For example, like other xanthines, it stimulates the central nervous system, but unlike most, it is not habituating or addicting. Likewise, unlike caffeine, it induces better, not worse, attributes of sleep.

It is a mild, not a strong, diuretic, as are many xanthines. It relaxes peripheral blood vessels, thereby reducing blood pressure, without the strong effect on the medulla and heart exhibited by some xanthines.

We also know that it improves psychomotor performance without the typical xanthine-induced depressant after effects. -Daniel Mowry, PhD.

Definitely interesting. And when I come to my own experiences with matiene, I can relate directly to the results of these studies. I haven't had a craving for yerba mate, yet when I drink a single isolated cup of coffee ill have recurring thoughts and desires to drink more. Yet, since I highly dislike how agitated I can get after a single cup of coffee I usually refuse to drink more. As I previously mentioned caffiene makes me quite jittery and agitated on the come down. This is not so with matiene, I have yet to notice this and have been drinking it for a few months now.

Something to consider. For more info on this study click here.