Coffee—Friend or Foe?
There was once a time when I would get coffee three or four times a day—freshman year. The caffeine would wake me up by blocking my body’s ability to make me feel tired.
But I got massive headaches from not drinking anything caffeinated within a day. At the same time, I’d notice random articles on the News app and on Yahoo! that seemed to flip between “coffee is good for you” and “coffee will kill you.”
Odds are you’ve probably seen those articles as well. Confused by the constant flip-flop? I was too.
After doing a latte of research (bah dum tss), here are some pros and cons to drinking coffee.
Reported Pros
- Work out in the gym regularly? Drinking two cups of coffee afterwards has been found to cut post-workout muscle pain nearly in half.[1]
- Strong black coffee can kill the bacteria that cause cavities. If you get cavities even though you floss and brush your teeth after every meal, black coffee may help you lessen your visits to the dentist.[2]
- Coffee could reduce the risk of developing multiple types of cancer, including colon and liver cancer.[3]
- Medical One reports that coffee drinkers are found less likely to develop depression than non-coffee drinkers.[4]
- Coffee offers more antioxidants than the fruit in Four Winds like oranges or grape juice. The antioxidants are natural to the coffee bean and lessen some of the possible cons of caffeine.[5]
Possible Cons
- Caffeine can cause varying levels of insomnia. This is usually true for me if I drink caffeinated coffee in the evening.[6] For an alternate energy boost, grab an apple! Eating an apple has the same effect as drinking a cup of coffee.
- According to “9 Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine,” caffeine can lead to higher anxiety levels and may lead to panic attacks. This doesn’t apply to every coffee drinker ever. Some people can experience higher anxiety levels due to their genetic makeup.[7]
- Caffeinated coffee has the ability to raise your blood pressure, causing discomfort and shallow breathing. Shallow breathing can also lead to irritableness and irrationalness, making you crabbier than you usually are.[8]
- Caffeine can make you tired after the initial energy goes away.[9]
- If you’re used to drinking caffeinated coffee regularly, not drinking it can cause headaches—something I learned the hard way.
So is coffee a friend or a foe? It depends on your relationship with the bitter beverage.
My advice? Save caffeine for the mornings and those rough days where you can’t seem to wake up.
Do you have any interesting stories about your coffee experiences? Share them in the comments! I’d love to read them.
[1]. Caffeine Informer, “20+ Good Health Reasons to Drink Coffee,” accessed March 10, 2018, https://www.caffeineinformer.com/7-good-reasons-to-drink-coffee.
[2]. Caffeine Informer, “20+ Good Health Reasons to Drink Coffee.”
[3]. Medical One, “10 Healthy Reasons to Drink Coffee,” Sept. 12, 2017: 11, accessed March 10, 2018, https://www.onemedical.com/blog/newsworthy/10-healthy-reasons-to-drink-coffee-2/.
[4]. Medical One, “10 Healthy Reasons to Drink Coffee.”
[5]. Medical One, “10 Healthy Reasons to Drink Coffee.”
[6]. Franziska Spritzler, Health Line, “9 Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine,” August 14, 2017, accessed March 10, 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/caffeine-side-effects#section3.
[7]. Franziska Spritzler, Health Line, “9 Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine.”
[8]. Franziska Spritzler, Health Line, “9 Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine,” August 14, 2017, accessed March 10, 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/caffeine-side-effects#section3.
[9]. Caffeine Informer, “Caffeine Overdose Symptoms: Signs, Cases, Preventions,” accessed March 10, 2018, https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-overdose-facts-and-fiction.
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