Coffee… Not only do we love this drink, but we also love the word “coffee,” the ritual of drinking, and, of course, the refreshing effect. Can’t bear the thought of beginning the day without a hot, fragrant cup of coffee? You’re not alone. Millions of people worldwide begin their days with that first cup and frequently with a second or even a third. The good news is that you can also benefit from this morning routine.

The Coffee’s Nutrition

There isn’t much to see while discussing simple, black coffee, which entails no milk or sugar.
Plain coffee, which has less than two calories per cup, is somewhat uninteresting until you add caffeine, the magical ingredient that most of us are familiar with and like.
Caffeine, nature’s stimulant, stimulates the central nervous system and releases hormones like those released in “fight-or-flight” scenarios. Surprisingly, coffee’s inherent antioxidants and caffeine both have several health advantages.

Coffee’s Advantages

Is there any true health advantage to coffee, aside from being a necessity amid work and college deadlines? Or is this just one more terrible habit that people have picked up all throughout the world without thinking about the potential repercussions?

Medical professionals have long encouraged patients to limit their coffee intake, primarily due to evidence that suggests coffee consumption may raise the risk of heart disease. However, recent research has shown that coffee has some surprising health benefits. Like all well-designed research, most of these studies investigated the impact of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), physical activity, tobacco use, and whether family members had experienced cancer. By adjusting for those variables, researchers ensured that coffee’s effects on health could be distinguished from those of lifestyle, family history, and past medical issues. However, the type of coffee you drink may influence its health benefits; a very large study from the UK published in 2022 found that adults who drank larger quantities of unsweetened or sugar-sweetened coffee were less likely to die from cancer in the subsequent seven years and also less likely to die from any cause during that time frame. However, drinking more artificially sweetened coffee had no impact on cancer or other fatalities.

Coffee Boosts Attention, Focus, and Alertness

Let’s start with the advantage you probably already know about drinking coffee, which can make you noticeably more focused and alert.

Coffee Enhances Cognitive Function

Additionally, consuming coffee can significantly improve your mental function. Research indicates that moderate caffeine consumption improves test performance for students and sleep-deprived participants.

Coffee Speeds Up Your Reaction Time

Caffeine may help athletes perform better if they consume it regularly. Caffeine benefits all sports because it has been demonstrated to speed up reaction times.

Coffee improves mood and perspective

Research with individuals who were sleep-deprived revealed that caffeine elevated their mood despite their lack of sleep.

Coffee Lowers Your Chance of Illness

In over 20,000 participants in observational research, those who drank four cups or more of coffee a day were 64% less likely to die young than those who drank none at all or very little.

Caffeine can lower the risk of disease, including dementia and Alzheimer’s, according to recent studies. Additionally, coffee can lessen the degree of inflammation in brain tissue.
Numerous diseases are linked to inflammation as their trigger. It’s possible that decreasing inflammation will lower your chance of getting sick.

How Many Coffee Cups Are There a Day?

According to certain research, consuming three to five cups of coffee daily is the ideal amount to optimize health advantages. Given the significant variations in caffeine content between brands, it might be wiser to begin with one cup of coffee per day and increase it to two cups in the afternoon if necessary.

Make sensible coffee choices and avoid the pitfall of substituting coffee for sleep. Recall that taking a fast 10-minute nap is more effective at boosting energy than drinking coffee all day.

Cons of excessive coffee consumption

While coffee has many health benefits, it is not recommended for everyone to consume significant amounts of this energy drink that has become a part of our lives.

People’s reactions to coffee or caffeine might also differ significantly. Higher dosages of caffeine may have unfavorable effects like anxiety, restlessness, sleeplessness, and elevated heart rate, whereas low to moderate doses (50–300 mg) may promote alertness, energy, and concentration.

Caffeine, Sleep, and Mental Health

The main thing to think about is how caffeine affects sleep. Even in tiny doses, caffeine consumption too close to bedtime can destroy the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. Maintaining a regular sleep schedule with at least 8 hours of unbroken sleep every night is crucial for those with significant depression or bipolar illness to help prevent manic or depressive episodes. A few sleepless nights from caffeine usage can cause mood consequences like depression or decreased energy, even in people without a good condition.

Those with bipolar disorder or those who are prone to manic or hypomanic episodes should pay special attention to maintaining a regular sleep schedule, sometimes known as “sleep hygiene.” The stimulant properties of caffeine and its potential to disrupt sleep can cause mania or hypomania, which are mood states characterized by impulsive behavior, racing thoughts, and high energy. The mania that is left untreated can harm the brain, and impulsive actions can have long-term effects. For this reason, people with bipolar disorder need to be aware of the dangers associated with coffee use.
Experts advise against caffeine six hours before going to bed. If your bedtime is 10:00 PM, try eliminating caffeine after 4:00 PM, for instance. Sleep disturbances can occur even with a cup of decaf coffee, which has a fair amount of caffeine.

Psychiatric medications and caffeine

For those who have been diagnosed with mental illness, there is an additional factor to consider: coffee may alter the metabolism of psychiatric drugs. The cytochrome P450 system is the enzyme responsible for metabolizing about 90% of all psychiatric medicines. In this system, caffeine promotes the production of some enzymes while decreasing the production of others.
Caffeine functionally modifies the dosage of psychiatric drugs by altering the synthesis of the enzymes that metabolize them. Should caffeine stimulate your liver to generate more of the enzymes needed to break down your antidepressant drug, your body will retain less of the active ingredient (a reduced dosage). If your body has less of the medicine than your doctor prescribed, this might potentially result in a return of your symptoms or give you and your partner the impression that the medication is not working when, in reality, enzyme induction is the cause of the lack of results.

Coffee and Mental Health Disorder Diagnosis

Taking a step back, caffeine can make detecting mental illnesses more difficult, in addition to complicating drug management. When coffee is involved, recognizing mania linked to bipolar illness, as well as anxiety and panic disorders, can be particularly challenging.

In the DSM5, the inability of symptoms to be connected to substance use is one of the exclusion criteria for a diagnosis of anxiety or panic disorder. Due to its moderate potency, caffeine can cause a variety of symptoms that are similar to those of anxiety and panic disorders, such as increased alertness, irritability, agitation, rapid heartbeat, and elevated blood pressure. Overindulgence in coffee can also lead to alterations in bowel or bladder habits, and digestive problems are frequently primary indicators of anxiety disorders. Caffeine can be ruled out as the cause of these symptoms, but a doctor cannot diagnose an anxiety or panic disorder unless the patient has verified that they are free of the drug.

Why coffee shouldn’t be consumed immediately after waking up

Everyone has been there. When the alarm goes off, our first instinct is to grab that cozy cup of coffee. It almost feels like a morning routine. Like most people, you probably reach for a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Let’s investigate the claims made by scientists regarding the possible health advantages of coffee.

What if I told you that delaying your caffeine fix for a little while might improve your day? If you stick with me, I’ll explain why pausing your coffee maker could be the best thing you can do today.

Professional Perspectives

We spoke with Dr. Raelene Brooks, PhD, RN, dean of the University of Phoenix College of Nursing, to better understand this subject. Her wealth of experience in nursing and health offers insightful explanations of how postponing your morning coffee might improve energy management and general well-being.

The Scientific Basis of Cortisol and Caffeine

First, let’s talk about cortisol. This hormone aids in waking up in the morning and is sometimes called the “stress hormone.” It is normal for your cortisol levels to peak 30 to 45 minutes after waking up. Coffee consumed immediately after can disrupt this natural process, making it less effective as a wake-up call.
Dr. Brooks states, “The body releases cortisol when it needs energy.” The sympathetic nervous system, which causes the fight-or-flight response, enables the skeletal muscles to use glucose for activation. Caffeine stimulants tell the sympathetic nervous system to raise cortisol levels. The body receives compounded cues to produce cortisol from internal and external sources.”

Why There Are Benefits to Waiting

Greater Durability of Energy

Your body’s cortisol levels have time to peak and begin to decline when you wait to drink coffee for at least 60 to 90 minutes after getting up. This implies that when the time comes for you to finally sip that excellent coffee, it will complement rather than contradict your body’s natural cycles. What was the outcome? More energy that lasts the entire day.
According to Dr. Brooks, “the body can use its internal source of energy production first, followed by the external source of caffeine to sustain energy until midday if coffee is consumed 1-2 hours after waking up.”

Improved Quality of Sleep

Better sleep can also result from delaying your coffee. With a half-life of almost five hours, caffeine can linger in your system for a considerable amount of time. By timing your coffee, you may avoid the late-afternoon jitters that could keep you up at night.

Useful Advice for Changing Your Coffee Routine

Take Up a Novel Morning Routine

Try having a glass of water first thing in the morning rather than going straight for the coffee maker. You can wake up more naturally if you drink enough water. To start your day right, consider exercising or eating a healthy breakfast. Furthermore, if you’re anything like me, you may discover that taking a shower while partially closed adds to the impression that you’re still in bed. Whatever works, isn’t that right?
Dr. Brooks advises, “Drinking eight ounces of water first thing in the morning hydrates our red blood cells, which lubricates our digestive system and wakes up our major organs.” This increases the oxygen-carrying capacity, effectively increasing energy.

Gradual Modifications

Start small if the thought of waiting 90 minutes seems unfeasible. One way to get there is to wait 15 minutes after breakfast. With this progressive modification, the shift may be simpler and more bearable.
Jessica, a friend of mine, completed this and gave me her advice. “I started by setting a timer for 15 minutes after waking up,” the woman stated. I added fifteen minutes every day until I reached an hour. Although it was difficult at first, I no longer gave it a second thought. Dr. Brooks states that the time it takes for caffeine to leave the body might vary from 1.5 to 9.5 hours. Coffee consumption later in the afternoon may affect the quality of your sleep, particularly if you are dehydrated.

Frequently Held Myths Regarding Morning Coffee

Myth of Instant Energy Boost

Many think that consuming coffee immediately is the only way to achieve that instant energy boost. But your body already has a built-in natural wake-up mechanism. Instead of replacing that boost, letting cortisol work before consuming coffee can make it stronger.

Dependency on Caffeine

Additionally, developing a psychological dependence on that morning cup of coffee is simple. However, realizing that you may better control the timing of your energy levels might lessen that dependence.
According to Dr. Brooks, it’s a popular fallacy that coffee keeps you hydrated. It has the exact opposite effect and could somewhat dilate the body.

Practical Uses

Occupational Productivity

Waiting to consume coffee may increase your productivity at work. When energy is more stable, you’re less prone to mid-morning crashes.
“Waiting to drink your coffee can help maintain better focus and energy levels throughout the workday,” says productivity expert Mark Johnson.
In conclusion, delaying coffee consumption until after waking up can result in greater sleep, longer-lasting energy, and enhanced general health. Although the adjustment may initially seem difficult, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. Try it out and see the difference it makes in your day. And never forget that every little step toward improved health matters. Put the coffee pot down for a while, drink water, exercise, and savor that much-needed cup of coffee.

To drink or not to drink.

Caffeine is among the many chemicals that, when used in moderation, might not be harmful to someone without a mental health diagnosis. Essentially, the question is whether the substance’s use is making that person disabled. There may be a problem if you have trouble controlling your caffeine intake or if you become unproductive at work after missing your morning cup of coffee.
The DSM5 defines the overuse of caffeine as more than 400 mg per day or roughly five cups of homemade coffee.
It should be noted that individuals who are pregnant or attempting to conceive are advised to limit their daily caffeine intake to 200 mg and talk with their healthcare professional about the hazards associated with caffeine consumption.
Pediatricians currently advise against giving caffeine to kids under the age of twelve, as well as against letting kids and teenagers drink any kind of energy drink. Pediatricians advise adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 to consume no more caffeine than 100 mg daily or around two 12-ounce soda cans. (Spills are not a good daily choice for teenagers to consume sodas due to their high sugar content, regardless of the caffeine dose.)

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your health, contact the Philadelphia Holistic Clinic.