Oh heavenly nectar of wide-eyed joy!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 9:48AM 
Of course I’m talking about coffee.
I have a love/hate relationship with coffee- every few months I stop drinking it altogether and I’ve gone YEARS without letting a single bitter/sweet/glorious drop past my lips. It’s like a relationship with a bad boy. You know you shouldn’t see him anymore, he makes you twitch sometimes, but oh, he’s sooo dreamy and he gets your heart racing…
I thought I would kick off the habit once and for all by reading up on coffee and its side effects, because- hey, anything that makes your heart beat faster can’t be at all healthy, right?
Well, the answer isn’t so clear cut and I didn’t get the hard answers I needed or wanted to totally kick off the habit altogether.
So what are some side effects of coffee (caffeinated obviously- decaf is for wussies)? We all know them:
- insomnia
- nervousness and restlessness
- stomach upset, nausea and vomiting
- increased heart and breathing rate
- Consuming large amounts of coffee might also cause headache, anxiety, agitation, ringing in the ears (say what now?), and irregular heartbeats.
So what is coffee good for? Well…
- Mental alertness (big plus for me here)
- Elevated mood
- Increasing metabolic rate
- Reducing headaches (unless you drink a gallon of coffee a day, in which case, it might cause one)
- Increasing endurance and speed (yeah, because I do so much running- ha)
- Reducing the risk of colorectal cancer (maybe)
- Preventing dizziness on standing up (orthostatic hypotension) in older people
- Preventing or delaying Parkinson's disease (there have been studies for this, actually)
- Preventing gallstones.
- Reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes
Caffeine is a stimulant and is readily absorbed by the body. Its effects peak about an hour after drinking it and really does help a person thinking more clearly. It works on the nervous and the cardiovascular systems (hence the faster heart and breathing rate). If you want to learn more, read more at WebMD.
I was talking to someone the other day who told me that coffee might trigger a heart attack… which is true. Sort of. See, it turns out if you don’t drink coffee and then you start, AND if you have other risk factors for heart disease seem to have a higher risk for a heart attack after drinking a cup. But then again, people who regularly have coffee on a daily basis don’t seem to have anything to worry about.
(The key word in that paragraph is the word ‘seem’ though so take it with a grain of salt, or do more reading on your own time).
Anyway, the last few things I read recommended moderate consumption of coffee for pregnant woman but um, I’d probably stay away from it if I were pregnant. Which I am not. Just sayin’. And oh, yes, it’s mildly addictive. But that’s a post for another day.
So… how do you guys take your cuppa luv?
Pop, Porter Novelli Seattle in Science
Reader Comments (4)
For some reason, I've never developed a taste for coffee. I can drink the occasional cup every wunt na while, but I generally don't get what the big whoop is. It always smells better than it tastes, and if I want it to taste better, I end up putting so much extra junk in it it ends up just being a cup of milk and sugar with some coffee thrown in as an afterthought.
I'll stick to my hot chocolate. It doesn't ever make me feel like I'm on speed.
I am so on the same page with a love/hate of coffee. Once in a while I switch to tea in the mornings but it really doesn't do the same trick. On the weekends though I try to skip coffee and usually go for hot chocolate (in the winter) or tea the rest of the year. Tea in the afternoons helps me also because it's good for your stomach after lunch to process what you just ate and keeps you warm in the winter without giving you an ulcer like coffee would if you drank it 24/7!
Mmmm....coffee....
People joke about Seattle-ites and coffee, but it's true in my world! I drink a LOT more coffee since moving to Seattle. I'm still not a "have to have it every morning or I'LL FREAK OUT!!!!" kinda person; in fact, most mornings I go with Diet Coke instead. But on a cold, rainy morning, a piping hot nonfat latte with two Splendas is pretty good.
And while we're on the topic, check out these interesting tidbits on coffee: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee