So your addiction to coffee is a given. So deep is this love for coffee, that you spend valuable time digesting information on the new coffeemaker to buy, and new recipes on the net. Is your addiction making you a better or a worse person?
Let’s go through some well researched positive and negative effects of being such a coffee lover and see if there’s anything an ardent coffee lover can learn!
Positive Effects of Increased Coffee Intake
It Gives You a Healthier Heart:
Coffee drinkers are known to have healthier hearts because of the antioxidants present in the drink. One major proven benefit of taking coffee regularly is that it reduces your overall risk of developing heart disease by about 25 percent, and if you have other factors that might make you more susceptible to heart disease such as hypertension- you, as a coffee drinker is likely to develop it much later than non-coffee drinkers in the same shoes.
An Impressive Physical Performance
Caffeine in coffee is excellent for its effect on your body, physically. Drinking coffee helps to increase your endurance and physical performance; this is particularly true for activities like; biking, running or swimming.
Because caffeine burns fat more than it burns carbohydrates or other energy sources, it increases one’s endurance level; hence making your physical performance impressive. This is why athletes routinely take coffee.
Need for Improved Brain and Mental Health?
Your state of health- mentally, is one key determinant of how happy you are. If you are a coffee lover, you are right on track to stable mental health, especially a reduction in rates of depression and reduced risk of Alzheimer’s. This is true because coffee has been documented to slow down the rate at which these brain/mental health issues happen.
Overall Protection from Several Diseases
From Parkinson’s disease to type II Diabetes and Liver Cancer, coffee is proven to protect your body from diseases and to keep you in an excellent state of health.
Whatever you do, maximize the health benefits of coffee by keeping it undiluted, e.g. by not adding lots of sugar to it, and by brewing it with a coffee filter. Coffee lovers have heated debates over Fresh press vs Drip coffeemakers, but this is on you to choose which type of coffeemaker serves you best.
Negative Effects of Increased Coffee Intake
A Warped Sleep Schedule
One thing stands out as a disadvantage of chronic coffee drinking is a warped sleep schedule. This is pronounced or worse in people who drink more than one cup of coffee per day. Since caffeine helps you to stay alert, it might keep you up for longer than you’ve planned. Also, it could reduce the rate at which you can sleep deeply. Of course, this could lead to other health issues.
Coffee Dependence
Many coffee drinkers highly depend on their caffeine supply in coffee. In fact, an absence of coffee can make them have withdrawal symptoms, especially if they had been taking up to 200-300mg of coffee daily. When stressed, the daily amount of coffee consumed could even be more, and withdrawal symptoms from such include a heightened sense of irritability, reduced concentration, and headaches.
Reduction in Bone Density
Chronic coffee drinkers have an increased risk of bone density loss, and excess coffee consumption leads to a higher risk of osteoporosis in elderly people. This further makes the plea of ‘drinking coffee in moderation’ one to be taken seriously, especially if you aren’t prepared to lose your bone mass!
Conclusion
There are so many benefits of being a ‘coffee mastermind’. Protecting one’s self from the negative effects of taking coffee, however, means we have to consider taking the beverage in moderation.
