Every coffee lover knows the feeling of a fresh coffee in the morning – brings spirit to every zombie. But how good is the caffeine for us? Let’s have a peak. Yes, it is drive-enhancing and no it doesn’t harm our heart. There are a lot of old rumours about coffee and already Kafka realised that:
“Coffee does not dehydrate. Otherwise I’d be dust by now.” Franz Kafka
What Does Science say?
A study shows that coffee is increasing the function of heart cells and protects them from damage on the experiment on mice. If it’s not that bad for mice, it can’t be that bad for us, right?
Even Harvard is pointing out some studies, which found that coffee drinkers may have a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, heart attack, strokes, Parkinson’s disease and uterine and live cancer .
There is always a ‘but’. Possibly you all know coffee can weaken your sleep, there is a high chance you visit the toilet one time more often and some can get a jittering feeling. So just don’t go overboard. Even if you drink too much water (3-4 litres in a short amount of time), it can be bad for your body – and nobody demonises water. So, dosing is everything. But don’t worry if you are a heavy coffee drinker, you need to drink over 100 cups of coffee in a day for caffeine become harmful. And, by the way, the study which is stating coffee dehydrates you is from 1928 – so let’s leave it behind us.
So, how much coffee is ideal? According to this study, at up to 5 cups of coffee per day, there is a relation to lower mortality risk.
So, basically you can laugh at the reaper’s face with a coffee 😉.
Important is to differ between caffeine and coffee. Where coffee might be healthy for us, caffeine is not for everyone (especially pregnant woman!).
What Does Caffeine Do Exactly?
Firstly, caffeine comes in and disarms the natural mechanism that makes us sleepy. Next, it fires neurons, which not only increase our heart rate but also stimulate pituitary (a pea-sized gland at the base of the brain), which releases blood sugar and adrenaline. Basically, caffeine puts our body in the fight-and-flight mode – if this is not an effective stimulant, I don’t know what is. Some need the the kick, some don’t. So trust your feeling.
We can feel the caffeine almost immediately and usually it peaks after 30 minutes. After 3 hours, the effect is almost done but it can take up to 12 hours until it leaves our body again.
However, even though over time more and more studies pointed out possible benefits for the health, don’t go overboard. If you don’t like coffee (happy you are here, anyway!), there is no need to start. It just means the coffee lovers amongst us can enjoy it even more (and laugh in the reaper’s face).
Want to know more? Check those links out
Caffeine – The most common drug on the world – let’s get rid of some rumors
Size matters! – Three criterias which helps you to channel your caffein dosis
Coffee Friends – Video’s to see the passion of other coffee lovers
Eavesdropping – Passion shared in a podcast – with the vision to conquer the world with good coffee
Hey Sabrina,
I like your posts, I can use that to defend myself from people telling me that I drink too much coffee (four coffees a day) 🙂
happy to help! And with 4 coffee’s your in the perfect range. Especially living in the italian part of Switzerland, it would be a shame not to benefit from the good espressi 😉
Cool post! I am all about quality, so I am happy with one GOOD coffee per day. I usually have 2 when I am on holidays😊. I like your sketch by the way! Curious to see what’s next! ☕