I’m certainly no prophet, but in watching the literal plethora of caffeine products (drinks, shots, strips and more, on top of the traditional coffees, teas and sodas) populating our airwaves and grocery carts, I have a feeling we may very well be looking at our generation’s version of nicotine.  Think about it – when cigarettes first made their way onto the scene, it was cool.  Natural stimulant – feels good – increases energy levels.  No worries, right?  How’d that one turn out?  Fast forward to today, when rather than a simple cup of coffee to start off the day, we’re encouraged to take it to another level.  At every turn, we’re nudged to down a shot of “all natural” (you know that means nothing, right?) caffeine, slap a caffeine strip on our tongue, down an energy drink in the afternoon, and wrap all those alternatives up with the ever-present coffee shop stop and soda supplements.  All the while, we’re doing little more than living on physical credit cards, writing daily IOUs to our body’s need for real, rather than stimulant induced, energy.  It’s my prediction that 20 years from now (or less), we’ll be walking down the exact same path with caffeine that we’ve most recently experienced with cigarettes.  Stay tuned (but in the mean time, don’t be fooled – when your body’s tired, it needs sleep – not sleep-disrupting caffeine)!