Something is watching you. You feel it. The hairs on your neck stand up, your pulse ticks up a notch, and you spin around like a character in a bad horror film. Nothing. Just an empty hallway and your own breathing. Congratulations, your brain just played you again.

Here is the thing about tired brains. They are dramatic. When you are running on low sleep and even lower energy, your brain starts treating shadows like threats. It overreacts to nothing, invents tension where there is none, and basically turns your daily commute into a psychological thriller. Your internal alarm system gets so jumpy it starts firing at its own reflection.

Scientists call it heightened sensory sensitivity. Your exhausted brain cranks up the volume on everything around you, looking for danger that does not exist. So that feeling that someone is creeping up behind you in the grocery store? Pure fiction. Written, directed, and produced by your sleep-deprived imagination.

Now here is where it gets interesting. Caffeine does not just wake you up. It actually quiets the noise. A proper cup of coffee helps regulate that overactive alarm system, turns down the internal horror soundtrack, and lets your brain operate more like a rational adult and less like a panicked extra in a zombie film. Basically coffee is doing crowd control inside your skull.

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Roaster/Cafe Notes:

Good Trade Coffee Company (​https://www.goodtrade.org/​

Calgary

In their own words: “OUR MISSION

To support low-income producers, their families and their communities in the areas of education, sustainable agriculture and economic growth.

We run a profitable coffee business as a mechanism to support our direct work with farmers and educators in the remote and marginalized regions of Colombia.

In 2016, a life-changing trip to Colombia brought our founders together.

Through 2016-17 we put our focus on building strong relationships with remote communities in Colombia.

In late 2017, we began importing small lots of beans from small-holder farmers, focusing on those living below the poverty line.

In October 2018 we opened a small 10x10 foot coffee shop in the rustic Crossroads Market, jumping both feet in to the retail market.

In November 2019 we opened our first stand-alone coffee shop in Calgary's Kensington district, full of character and walkability.

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Your brain deserves a break from its own nonsense.

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