Coffee is part of our culture.
We bond over a cup of coffee. We meet friends for coffee. We had coffee for breakfast and mid-morning we had another. After eating we had coffee. Before exercising we drink coffee to activate ourselves. Halfway through the route, there is a stop to have coffee. And some need a coffee at night to go to sleep.
But… What do you know about coffee?
Most of us know or have heard about its benefits but… it also has a dark side.
Positive and negative effects that coffee causes on your body
Yes, positive and negative effects.
Perhaps the ones you know the most are the positive ones, the friendly face of coffee;
Stimulates the nervous system. Improve your physical performance. It helps you stay alert. It contains a large amount of antioxidants. Protects you against diabetes. It is protective against diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He is a good “friend” of the heart.
But you should also know the dark side, and it is not only related to insomnia and nervousness.
Coffee may be affecting you more than you think and you don’t know it.
Let’s start with the positive effects of coffee
Coffee stimulates the nervous system, increases sports performance and concentration
Coffee is a good stimulant that helps you concentrate and also improves sports performance since it activates your body (stimulates the nervous system and gives you a “spark” of energy) and delays the feeling of tiredness.
It has been proven that a coffee before training activates your muscles and gives you a little more energy.
It is an extra help to increase your sports performance (endurance and strength) even and if you are going to take an exam and take the correct dose of coffee, it will help you concentrate better.
This last recommendation is for people accustomed to coffee..
If you have never had coffee before and you drink it before an exam, then you may feel nervous and uneasy.
Remember, these tips are for people who have a habit of drinking coffee.
Helps you spend sleepless nights
If you have to work or study at night, we all know the effect of coffee in these types of situations.
It helps you stay awake and alert throughout the night.
Increase your ability to concentrate.
Coffee reduces pain and physical fatigue
That activating effect that coffee has also helps you reduce the feeling of pain and fatigue.
A hard day of work accompanied by a good cup of coffee is less hard.
It has also been shown in different scientific studies that a cup of coffee after a sports workout could reduce muscle pain.
Coffee protects you from diabetes and takes care of your heart
After an interesting study, the University of Sydney was able to verify that Coffee consumed in moderation reduces the probability of suffering from type 2 diabetes by 7%.
Coffee taken in moderation can also act positively on the cardiovascular system, reducing the chances of suffering from heart disease (as long as your health and your doctor allow it).
This was demonstrated in a 2007 study conducted by Dr. Greemberg in New York.
It has antioxidant effects thanks to its polyphenol content
The antioxidant capacity of coffee has been the source of many studies.
To date, scientists have determined that coffee can help your body defend itself against a large number of diseases in which oxidative stress of cells is involved, especially interesting in the neurodegenerative field such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
These diseases seem to have less incidence in coffee drinkers.
And best of all, it is very delicious
For those of us who enjoy good coffee, it is a delight to savor a good cup of coffee in company or alone (of course always better in good company).
It is really delicious and has a good sensation on the palate and in the body.
It is a custom that leaves a very pleasant feeling.
Well, looking at this text it seems that coffee is all benefits.
This may be the most pleasant side of coffee.
It is possible that coffee is doing you more harm than you think and you don’t know it.
But coffee also has a dark side that is related to fatigue and tiredness.
Unfortunately, coffee has negative effects on health. that are often overlooked.
That same coffee that you drink every day in search of the energy and vitality that you lack can cause tiredness and chronic fatigue.
Let’s know what the dark side of coffee is
The insomnia
If one of the positive effects of coffee is that it keeps you alert all night (it works very well for drivers and night watchmen), precisely that effect can turn against you if you drink a lot of caffeine during the day.
When it’s time to sleep, you are not able to fall asleep and this causes you to go to bed very late.
The next morning you have to get up very early the next day the same and the next day the same…
In this way you accumulate fatigue throughout the week.
Since you are very tired from the day, you drink coffee to stay active and you enter a vicious circle that is difficult to get out of.
You drink coffee because you don’t have energy and you don’t have energy because you don’t sleep well since you drink a lot of coffee.. Have you fallen into this mouse wheel?
Coffee can make you gain weight
Although coffee has a thermogenic effect, it gives you energy to perform physical exercise more intensely and helps eliminate adipose tissue, you already know that If you don’t sleep well it is much more difficult to lose weight.
Coffee is an stimulant that causes nervousness, anxiety and in many cases increases stress.
Not sleeping at night and having a lot of stress during the day prevent you from losing fat.
During the night you release growth hormone.
This is responsible for repairing and creating new tissues.
If you are an athlete, you will know that this hormone is what is responsible for your muscle recovery.
If you do not rest deeply at night, you will have many moments during the day. “hunger for sweets”.
A large amount of stress mixed every day with a lot of coffee, apart from not allowing you to rest deeply, alters the proper functioning of the hypothalamus, so appetite control is altered.
When your body and brain do not rest deeply, you are hungrier and more eager to “have something sweet” and your appetite gradually becomes more and more uncontrollable.
A deep night’s rest prevents these anxiety attacks from sweet foods.
A lot of coffee mixed with stress are two very destructive habits for your physical health.
You can have migraines
A high amount of caffeine can cause frequent headaches. And if your head hurts, it’s best to take a painkiller… or not…
Well, this habit enhances the effects of coffee, increasing headaches.
If you have a headache because you drink too much coffee, don’t take a pain reliever. Lower your caffeine dose.
They can accentuate the effects of adrenal fatigue
When the adrenal glands (two small glands located above the kidneys) are fatigued, they are unable to generate sufficient amounts of hormones, mainly glucocorticoid and cortisol.
Let’s learn a little more about these two hormones:
Glucocorticoide; They are hormones that participate in the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism.
They also have immunosuppressive activity (they are diseases that can be of autoimmune origin such as rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis…)
Its regulatory action is also responsible for keeping the intermediate metabolism of fats and proteins in good shape.
Cortisol; Steroid hormone produced in the adrenal gland.
It is activated in response to stress and a low level of glucocorticoids in the blood.
Increases blood sugar level and helps the metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
What symptoms does adrenal fatigue cause?
Bufff, many things and very dangerous for your health.
From chronic tiredness and exhaustion (which is only momentarily relieved with a cup of coffee, until the effects of the coffee wear off and you have to drink another and another… entering a vicious circle that gives you false energy and exhausts the adrenal gland). ) to chronic muscle inflammation through lack of libido.
These are some of the effects caused by adrenal fatigue
• Muscle fatigue when playing sports or walking, even when climbing stairs
• Lack of libido
• Dizziness when standing up quickly
• Palpitations and rapid heart rate
• Low or unbalanced voltage
• Increased fat in the abdominal area (center and sides)
• Inflammation
• Lack of motivation
• Continuous fatigue
• Craving sweet foods, chocolates or salty foods, even after eating
• Energy dips in the early afternoon
• Habitual tiredness at night and when you go to bed, you feel awake
• Difficulty to sleep. Severe insomnia
• Very tired in the mornings. You can’t get up because you are so tired
• Tendency to be depressed
• You are not able to concentrate and you forget things relatively easily
Caffeine consumption decreases brain oxygenation
Be very careful because caffeine will reduce the blood that reaches your brain by up to 40%.
This is demonstrated in an imaging study by drinking just one cup of coffee and then performing an fMRI.
I don’t have any of these symptoms. Can I still drink coffee?
It is possible that you drink coffee and not have any of these symptoms.
Fantastic
But if you have more than three of these symptoms, you drink more than three coffees a day and your stress level is high… you should rethink how healthy your relationship with coffee is.
The temptation to grab a coffee to get yourself going can be hard to control.
Being very tired all day and drinking coffee to combat it is a continuous state of fight-flight in which you put your body and once the effects wear off, you return to having that crushing tiredness and you are even in a worse mood than before. to drink coffee.
How the state works fight flight
Every time you put caffeine in your body, it reaches your brain and stimulates neuronal activity.
At that moment the brain sends a message to the pituitary gland indicating that it is necessary to become alert.
The pituitary activates the adrenal glands to fill the blood and muscles with adrenaline and cortisol.
When there is adrenaline and cortisol in the blood, the body is in “fight or flight“. She is fully alert to what he believes is an attack.
You have more sugar in your blood to have more muscle energy.
The heart rate increases, the blood vessels constrict, the airways dilate so that more air can enter and the muscles prepare because there is something that is warning you that you need to be alert to fight or flight.
This is the fight or flight reaction system of the sympathetic nervous system.
If you are drinking several cups of coffee throughout the day, it is likely that your entire nervous system is on constant red alert without you being aware of it.
Analyze your habits, observe your body’s symptoms and draw conclusions
Taking care of your health is one of the best investments you can make in this life.
I hope this article helps you have a broader vision of the positive and negative effects that coffee produces on your body.
Be happy
Pedro Garcia
2023-12-05 06:50:00
#Negative #effects #coffee
