Students walk around with it on their minds. Their bodies crave the caffeine, cream and sugar that fills every cup of this delicious beverage, available to all teachers and students. Everyone could benefit from a midday pick-up, and a cup of tea or coffee, which students are free to take advantage of in the cafeteria, may be just perfect.

Students should be trusted to not abuse this privilege, just as they do for the vending machines full of snacks and soda in Drake Arena, or the hot chocolate machine and ice cream available during lunch periods.

“It makes sense to pay attention to your consumption, how it affects you… Some people can drink a lot of caffeine and not have much of an impact and for some people it really does impact them,” US Counselor Susanna Short said.

Short believes that students are intelligent and responsible enough to be able to monitor their caffeine intake themselves.

Benefits can be gained from consuming coffee, especially when one is in need of an energy boost, but the intake of coffee has been blamed by many for either “stunting growth” or affecting heart health.

Donald Hensrud of Mayo Clinic writes that “heavy caffeine use — on the order of four to seven cups of coffee a day — can cause problems such as restlessness, anxiety, irritability and sleeplessness.”

Drinking coffee has become such a normal activity that many Americans indulge in their morning cup of joe without considering these risks.

Still, is it possible that the benefits gained by drinking coffee outweigh the possible risks which can accompany all types of food and drink?

According to Hensrud, coffee provides antioxidants, and can help defend the body against liver cancer, Type II diabetes and other diseases as well. It can also help prevent depression and lower chances of suicide.

In an article for Smithsonian Magazine online (“It’s a Myth”) Joseph Stromberg states how the association between coffee and its effect on growth was derived from false advertising for Postum, a coffee substitute, in the early 20th Century. The only correlation is that caffeine prohibits a small amount of calcium from being absorbed, resulting in a minor decrease of bone growth which is not significant and occurs more in adults.

At school there isn’t enough time in most people’s day to consume four to seven cups of coffee a day and cause issues.

“Tea has caffeine, soda has caffeine… I don’t think it should be a substitute for sleep, but if a student wants to use it as a substitute for sleep then they can get that lots of places,” Short said.

Despite how strange it might feel to observe a freshman drinking a cup of coffee next to a teacher filling his or her mug with the same, students can make these decisions for themselves when educated about the consequences.

Everything is acceptable when consumed in moderation, and this applies to coffee as well. There is no reason for the availability of coffee to be decreased or students’ consumption to be monitored.