Most geeks I know are caffeine-aholics.  They are addicted to their caffeine, though there are many sources for their individual addictions.  My husband is a Mt. Dew addict.  He even drinks it before bed.  I know many who are coffee drinkers, Coke or Pepsi guzzlers and a few who prefer Jolt or Red Bull.

We have all heard the spoof (done by the Dead Ale Wives) of the D&D group where one of the players is in the kitchen searching for Mt. Dew and Cheetos.  I have never attended a D&D game that didn’t have a huge bounty of sugar and caffeine-laden refreshments.  Nor have I attended a tech conference where the same wasn’t provided in nauseating abundance. In my husband’s office, one of his co-workers sets up his own personal coffee pot before leaving each night, and only works when he has coffee.  Should he run out of coffee supplies (i.e. grounds, filters, creamer, sweetener), he goes home.  They often make determinations about whether he will come in the following day by checking the pot after he has left.  If it is not setup, they figure he has taken the day off.

As a diabetic, I am forbidden from sugar.  Another medical issue prevents my use of caffeine and carbonation.  Therefore, while I talk a lot about my “hot cup of life”, it is really just decaf with Splenda and cream.  Before I was diagnosed, however, I was a Mt. Dew and Cheetos person.  Oh, and high-test coffee.  I never got a chance to try Red Bull, it didn’t come out before I was diagnosed. 

I have often wondered whether this gravitation toward caffeine, and often high sugar, is inborn to geeks or whether it is a function of geekhood.  Are we geeks the way we are because of the effects of sugar and caffeine or do geeks have an innate need for sugar and caffeine to fuel their brains which perhaps function in a different way from non-geeks? I also wonder whether there is a higher incidence of diabetes among the geek population.  Again, is it a genetic pre-disposition?  Or an end product from the habits of the geekly lifestyle? 

While this forum certainly can’t provide us with scientifically reproduceable data, I wonder whether a brief poll would give us insight to that question.