Is Caffeine Good For Health?
By: Namra Amir
Tags: Coffee, Diet, Drinks, Morning Routines, Health

Intro

Around 80% of the people around the globe consume caffeine every day in some form. When consuming caffeine, the individual needs to figure out the limit of how much caffeine is good for them, as coffee has some amazing benefits but when it is consumed in excess amounts, the individual can start to experience very toxic effects. For an average adult 400mg of coffee i.e., 2–4 cups of coffee or 8 cups of tea are considered to be safe whereas pregnant women should consume half of the average allowance as excess can lead to risks of having a baby born with low birth weight. Consuming access amounts of caffeine can also lead the individual to be a caffeine addict or cause dependency issues, after which withdrawal is difficult and reduction in intake leads to impairment in daily functioning along with some side effects such as headache, tiredness, low mood, concentration problems, sleepiness, and reduced energy or alertness.

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What is caffeine

Caffeine is a natural stimulant and a psychoactive drug most commonly found in tea, coffee, and cacao plants. In its raw form caffeine is a white powder with a very bitter taste, which is used in the manufacturing of some of the world’s most popular beverages such as coffee, tea, espresso, energy drinks, and supplements. Coffee contains high levels of antioxidants and many beneficial nutrients such as riboflavin, pantothenic acid, manganese, potassium, magnesium, niacin.

How caffeine affects the brain

After caffeine is consumed, it is absorbed into the bloodstream, from there it travels to the brain. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour for the caffeine to be completely absorbed and its effects to take place, hence, an individual won’t feel awaken or active immediately after consuming caffeine. After the caffeine has reached the brain, it acts on the central nervous system and blocks a neurotransmitter known as adenosine (which is responsible for relaxing your brain and makes you feel tired) so its effects are reduced and the production of some other neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine (responsible for feelings of pleasure, mood elevation, motivation, concentration, and attention) are increased.

Benefits of caffeine

As caffeine increases the production of dopamine and epinephrine and decreases the production of adenosine, this results in increased concentration, attention, and mood elevation.

Caffeine also helps the individual feel awaken and energetic, if it is consumed just before an individual goes for cycling or gym, caffeine helps increase endurance in the body which helps last longer during physical exercise, and the individual feels less tired.

Intake of limited amounts of caffeine can also reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. These are linked with reduced levels of dopamine and epinephrine in the brain, whereas caffeine increases the production of these neurotransmitters.

Caffeine is a natural substance proven to aid fat burning as it contains the ability to stimulate the central nervous system which may increase metabolism and fat burning as caffeine signals the fat cells to break.

Some medications too, contain caffeine because of its pain-revealing abilities, caffeine can reduce pain through its effects on adenosine receptors.

Coffee can help u live longer as coffee drinkers have reduced risks of getting many kinds of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and liver problems depression.

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Negative effects of caffeine

Caffeine just before bedtime can cause insomnia so it is important to drink coffee at least 6 hours before you go to sleep.

Caffeine can also raise blood pressure levels, so people with high blood pressure levels should consult a doctor before having caffeine.

Heavier doses of caffeine can also result in dizziness, headaches, restlessness, and shakiness.

Furthermore, just like any other drug, caffeine has negative side effects too and can be addictive. Intake of caffeine in heavy doses can make you feel jittery and tensed and can result in dependency issues after which it is difficult for the individual to function normally throughout the day without a cup of coffee, the individual also starts to develop tolerance, and now their body needs more caffeine compared to what they usually take in order to feel active and awaken.

Once someone becomes an addict reduction in amounts of intake of caffeine or absence of caffeine can cause impairment in daily functioning and individual can experience side effects such as fast heart rate, agitation, restlessness, and anxiety. A caffeine addict might even need to seek professional health care to get rid of their addiction.

Even more heavy doses of caffeine, that is around 10–14g a day can be fatal; however, it is nearly impossible for any individual to consume such a heavy dose of caffeine due to its effects and bitter taste that is the reason why the death rate due to consumption of caffeine is very low.

Myths about caffeine

It’s difficult for people to add coffee to their daily life routines even if it has many benefits, due to the myths circulating around in society. These myths are completely false and many studies and even proven the opposite.

Myth #1, coffee is the cause of insomnia, coffee is completely out of your system within 4–6 hours so unless you had a cup just before bedtime coffee is not the reason you have insomnia.

Myth #2, coffee contributes to losing weight, coffee does slightly increase your metabolism and helps in fat burning but the change is not a very major one, such as if you want to lose weight drinking coffee every day won’t make you notice a difference.

Myth #3, coffee is addictive and it is true to some extent but the dependency issues arise if you consume coffee in heavy doses every day and you develop a tolerance for high levels of dopamine in your brain. Drinking one or two cups of mild regular coffee won’t make you a coffee addict, and if you stop having your daily dose of coffee you might experience some side effects but they will only last a day or two not more than that.

Myth #4, coffee is bad for your health. It is quite the opposite, coffee has many benefits and contributes to reducing the risks of developing many kinds of illness such as diabetes type 2 and cardiovascular disease, etc.

Myth #5, coffee is harmful to pregnant women. Drinking coffee when someone is pregnant is not harmful however, the amount of intake should be reduced, an average person can consume 400g of coffee a day compared to it, a pregnant woman should have only 200g per day.

Conclusion

Adding a cup of coffee to your daily life routine can help you feel more energetic, awake, and motivated. Caffeine has a lot of benefits if consumed within a limit however, heavy consumption of caffeine can make you experience negative effects. The myths we hear about caffeine stops us from adding it to our daily lives, whereas around 80% of the population consumes caffeine and every day and many studies have proven that these myths are completely false and misleading.