Interesting Things That Happen When You Drink Coffee

Ahhhh, coffee.  Humanity’s great elixir. I’d wager many of the world’s great inventions and leaps forward rests on the shoulders of many good cups of joe. If you’re into nerding out over the science of caffeine, hop on over to this blog I wrote on that very topic. 

And, if you’re stuck at home engaging in the appropriate social distancing required to stop the spread of COVID-19, odds are high that your coffee intake has had a boost in recent weeks. What better way to break up the monotony of long days at home than a trip to the kitchen to take part in the soothing ritual of coffee-making. It’s a national pastime!

Here’s a list of funny or interesting things that happen when you drink too much coffee:

-Improved mental alertness/attention and improved memory retention

-Improved physical performance (aerobic and endurance)

-Caffeine withdrawal: headache, jitters and paradoxically, sluggish

-Raise cholesterol levels (especially if you use french press method w/o a filter). Without filter it doesn’t separate out the terpenes in coffee, which are the cholesterol-raising oils

-Short-term increase in blood pressure and heart rate

-Increased risk of heartburn (due to acidity)

-Prevents calcium absorption in bones, which over time (and to excess) can increase risk of osteoporosis

-Too much can lead to fertility issues. To avoid this, limit to 300mg/day (1 cup of coffee)

-For pregnant women, limit no more than 200mg/day

-You poop! Coffee stimulates your bowel. Coffee, you have one job!! Watch out people with IBS–coffee can make this problem worse.

-You pee! Caffeine is a diuretic. Makes you pee.

-Coffee breath, blech: coffee dries out your mouth, causing stinky breath

-Your vision sharpens: because coffee stimulates your fight or flight, it will also dilate your pupils slightly

-Irritability and stress if you drink too much. This is due to extra adrenaline in your blood.

-Jitters can make pre-existing anxiety worse.

-You can come to rely on it.

-Too much can turn you into an insomniac. Read more here.

Take away: coffee can be good for your brain and your overall performance, but only in moderation. And…I think now that I’ve posted this blog, I’m going to go make myself a cup of coffee!