Is coffee healthy for weight loss? Is coffee bad for your heart? Can kids drink coffee? What are the side effects of coffee? How much coffee is good for health? And these questions are endless.
Now that you’re reading this article, I am guessing, you too are struggling with such questions. Thanks to the amazing taste and instant results on headaches, we do not wish to quit it without being sure about the side effects of caffeine.
So, let’s talk about the benefits and side effects of coffee --
BENEFITS --
Boosts Your Physical Performance - Drinking coffee increases the adrenaline rush in your body. This rush is also called the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, which motivates you to either resist forcibly or run away. So, drinking coffee an hour before working out will improve your performance by 11-12% at the gym.
Enhances Brain Function - Coffee is a well-known and most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world. Other drinks and chocolates too can have caffeine, but coffee is the most preferred source of caffeine.
A single cup of coffee can contain 30 to 300 mg of caffeine. An average sized cup of coffee contains around 90 to 100 mg of caffeine. And caffeine is popularly known as a stimulant that helps your brain to function well.
Coffee blocks the function of adenosine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter. When this hormone is blocked, the activity in your brain is increased.
Your brain now releases other neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine, these hormones reduce the feeling of tiredness and make you more alert.
Lower Risk of Depression - Depression has become an increasing phenomenon. The rate of clinical depression has been increasing with the passing years.
Hence, Harvard conducted a research study on depression that revealed, people who drank coffee had a 20% lower risk of being depressed. Also, people who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day were 53% less likely to attempt suicide.
Lower Risk of Parkinson’s Disease - Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. This is caused due to the death of dopamine-generating neurons in the brain. And as I previously mentioned, caffeine helps the brain to release dopamine, hence drinking coffee can reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease.
SIDE EFFECTS --
Can Cause Anxiety - It won’t be fair if I spoke only about the benefits, because there are a few side effects of coffee you must be aware of. Anxiety is one of the major side effects of coffee that we need to consider before deciding to consume too much coffee.
Consumption of too much caffeine can lead to jitteriness, anxiety, heart palpitations, panic attacks and much more. If your body is sensitive to caffeine and gets overstimulated, it is advisable that you do not consume coffee at all.
Disrupted Sleep - Disrupted sleep is another side effect of coffee you do not want to be affected with. Come on, who wants to be an owl, especially when you have to reach your office at 10 A.M.
People who drink coffee at any time of the day have often complained about sleepless nights. If you are one of those people, try and quit drinking coffee after 3 P.M., in the afternoon.
Can be Addictive - People who regularly consume this cup of joy know that it is addictive. And for me, this is the most annoying side effect of coffee.
Once you start having caffeine regularly it stops working as it did in the beginning, or you feel the need for extra cups of coffee to produce the same effects. As I said, this is very annoying. While other side effects of coffee can still be overpowered by reducing the intake of coffee, this side effect caused by coffee requires you to drink more and more coffee.
When you try to abstain from coffee, you’ll start experiencing withdrawal symptoms like headaches, irritability, brain fog, nausea, exhaustion and more.
So, How Much Coffee is Good?
Now that you’re aware of both, benefits and side effects of coffee, you might be quite confused.
“What am I supposed to do? It has amazing benefits, but the side effects of coffee are terrifying!”
Relax. Like the most famous quote says, “Anything in limit is good”, coffee too is healthy when consumed in a limit. Once you cross those limits, the side effects of coffee might start following you.
Anything around 2 to 3 cups of coffee can help you to reap the benefits, and anything more than 4 cups will lead to the side effects of coffee like addiction, insomnia etc. etc.
So, always remember, the best way to live your life in content is, do everything in limits!
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