Today, coffee is perceived as an energy and health booster in most of the western world. Starbucks opened up shops in every corner of the world so that coffee consumers can go everywhere without having to fear a short of their favorite drink. Coffee is even the only stimulative substance which is willingly provided to employees mostly for free.

The physical health benefits of coffee seem clear and most of the scientific world agrees about it. To mention some:

Lower rates for cardiovascular disease¹

Lowers depression⁴

Lower risk for some types of cancer²

Factors which contribute to the benefits³ ¹ are antioxidants, higher insulin sensitivity and more.

But, but, but

We would be in wonderland if coffee was all good. It is, finally, still a stimulant and like other stimulants we consume, it has upsides and downsides.

Caffeine, the main stimulative ingredient in coffee, acts like a mild painkiller. It relieves you from your physical as also from psychological pain⁶. This lasts depending on your dosage, for hours until a new shot of espresso will give you the next relief.

To clarify this point event more: High dosages of caffeine are used to make nervous people sleep in nursing homes for elderly. It is literally a painkiller, at least short-term.

Unfortunately, the brain gets accustomed to the effect of caffeine and if you don’t increase your intake continuously the mess starts.

After this point, coffee can cause

unjustifiable anxiety/panic attack

unjustifiable daily mood swings

bad sleep like waking up in the middle of the night (no that is not normal)⁸

increased stress hormones⁹

low concentration ability (can’t slow my mind down)

and a lot more

The downsides of coffee consumption usually happen when you are off for some hours. Do you have a hard time sleeping and getting up in the morning? You don’t drink coffee at the weekends and you always have a headache on Saturday morning and you don’t know why? Most people are unaware of how unstable they are psychologically with coffee and what improvement they can make without it.

The downsides only happen after a long time drinking coffee and don’t contradict studies which show short-term mental improvements.

Conclusion

Coffee has a lot of upsides when it comes to physical health but the psychological benefits are not as straightforward. The consumption can, for example, lead to low concentration and that is the opposite what most of us want to achieve.

I challenge everybody to stay away from caffeine for three days to really see how dependent they are. You think that is no problem? Just do it! So many people I know thought the same and came back completely devasted after two days off.

And yes, cutting out caffeine also includes tea, energy drinks, and soft drinks like coke and ice tea. So don’t cheat.

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