The Truth About Caffeine: Is It Good Or Bad For You?
If you don’t enjoy a morning coffee, I’ll look at you a little weird …
(Without judging or anything …)
Anyway, while coffee is delicious (IMHO but completely correct), and while it will give you great benefits, it does have some drawbacks.
Now, I must be clear, when I talk about coffee, I mean specifically “caffeine.”
Now that we’ve cleared it up, let’s talk about caffeine (I’m already fantasizing about coffee, probably not a good sign, ha!).
So, let’s start with the benefits of caffeine:
1) You will have an energy boost
The biggest and best known benefit of caffeine is undoubtedly the energy boost you will get from it.
Four hours of sleep last night? No problem; just have a cup of coffee.
Do you have a workout that you don’t feel like? Better baby.
Do you suffer from a depression at work in the middle of the morning? Coffee time!
Clearly, caffeine has some amazing benefits when it comes to giving you more energy. But (and it’s a bigger “but” than Kim Kardashian’s butt), it’s not all good news. We’ll go over this in a moment, though. For now, let’s focus on the positives!
Anyway, the reason caffeine can boost your energy is because of this:
(WARNING: Bored scientific things to come. I’ll do it quickly, something I unfortunately say too often lately …)
So then …
As soon as caffeine enters your body, the liver metabolizes it and breaks it down into theophylline, theobromine, and paraxanthine. These chemicals then travel through the body, where they affect different functions.
How quickly caffeine is metabolized varies from person to person; you should thank mom and dad for this, because it’s all in your genes. (Yes, thank you Mom and Dad for driving me crazy when I have coffee !!)
However, the most studied function affected by caffeine is in your brain. You see, caffeine is similar to a molecule called adenosine in your brain. Caffeine molecules bind to adenosine receptors on brain cells that prevent adenosine from binding.
Now, you’re probably thinking, “What the heck is adenosine?”
Good question. Let me answer you …
See, when adenosine binds to enough receptors, it signals the brain that it’s time to sleep. But like I just said, when caffeine molecules bind to adenosine receptors, adenosine can’t bind to anything.
So what does this mean? Simply put, your brain doesn’t get the signals that it’s time for you to go to sleep.
So does that mean you can stay without sleep forever, just drinking coffee all day?
Definitely not. After all, Freddy Krueger wouldn’t have been half as scary if people could survive without sleep …
So caffeine doesn’t replace your need for sleep. It just covers it.
Also, when caffeine blocks adenosine, your dopamine system starts working more efficiently. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your body that is basically what helps you feel good. So that’s another benefit of caffeine.
2) Caffeine is a form of nootropic.
A way of whaaaaaa ‘?
Nootropic
Nootropics are substances that alter brain chemistry. The benefits include better creativity, mental focus, and much more. And yes, caffeine will provide you with these same benefits.
3) Speeds up your metabolism, so you will burn more fat.
Just like it says on the tin.
Obviously a huge benefit if you are trying to lose weight.
Sooooo … What are the NEGATIVES of caffeine?
1) it’s a drug
Which means you can get addicted.
Which is not good news, buddy. Clearly, too much is going to be bad.
There are a few reasons why:
For starters, you will need more and more caffeine to get the same benefits. This will ruin your ability to sleep, your natural energy levels, and much more.
Like any drug, if you don’t take in the amount of caffeine your body is used to afterward, it will “crash” in a big way. You will be mediocre, without energy, tired, irritable and generally feel like garbage.
Good luck being productive at work!
2) You could suffer from anxiety
If I drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day, I get very anxious.
It is awful.
I remember there was a time when I drank 3-4 cups a day. He literally had a lot of anxiety. I thought everyone was against me.
Not cool.
When I cut down on my coffee I almost immediately felt better (aside from a few headaches, but hey, you soon get over them)!
3) heart problems
When I was 21, I went to the hospital with a heart problem.
I was there for 3 days; diagnosed with a condition called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart. It was not nice.
I was at Coventry University. He was lying on the bed struggling to breathe. I felt really weird.
Anyway, I was finally able to sleep around 2am. Then BOOM. I woke up again at about four thirty. My heart beating hard.
So I went to the hospital and the doctor said, “Don’t worry, but we are going to treat this case as the most serious.”
Really? Did he really say “Don’t worry” ????? I was blocking it, probably causing my heart rate to increase even more!
Clearly, I lived to tell the tale. And everything is fine now, more than fine in fact. But I was drinking a lot of caffeine at the time, so that probably played a role. The doctor then said to stay away from ALL energy drinks for life. He said that many patients arrived with heart problems after having consumed some of these.
So, lesson learned:
Too much caffeine can be bad news. Seriously bad news.
4) insomnia
Sleep is important.
Yes, I know you do. But are you really getting enough?
If not, you will have a lot of problems. Things like not being able to focus, not being creative, feeling beyond lethargic, and just looking sick and unhealthy with oily skin and large bags under your eyes. Not well.
Too much caffeine will only ruin your sleep, for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
So … should you drink caffeine or not?
Honestly, a cup of coffee a day won’t hurt you.
In fact, it will bring you some of the great benefits that we have discussed.
Personally, I have a cup once every two to three days. It just means that when I drink it, it works like a charm.
Now what if you are already addicted to caffeine? What if you can’t function without it?
Honestly, I recommend going cold turkey. Really.
Just for a couple of weeks.
Then you can start drinking it again (only in much smaller amounts). If you do this, you will feel bad at first. But after about a week, the headaches will go away and you will feel much better. Just view this moment as a way to reset your body to its natural state. Your natural energy levels will skyrocket and you no longer need caffeine to function.
One last thing:
Try not to have caffeine within 10 hours of bedtime. Just because it takes a while to get out of your system.