There’s a lot of debate about whether coffee is good for you or not. But coffee drinkers were glad to read new research published recently that suggests it can be beneficial to your health. However, that doesn’t settle the debate because the findings only showed that 1 or 2 cups a day can have a positive impact. So, that doesn’t mean that you can drink as much coffee as you like without worrying about the side effects.
Coffee, and other caffeinated drinks, can have a very negative impact on your health if you drink too much, and it’s important that you consider this so you can manage your intake properly. These are the common side effects of coffee that you should be aware of.
Anxiety
People drink coffee because the caffeine wakes them up and helps them stay alert. The reason this happens is that caffeine blocks brain chemicals that make you feel tired and encourages your body to produce adrenaline instead. In small amounts, adrenaline will make you feel more awake and focused, but in large amounts, it has other effects.
Adrenaline is known as the fight or flight chemical and in higher amounts, it can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. Many people find that too much coffee makes them jittery and causes rapid breathing. This effect can be seen in everybody when they drink large amounts of caffeine but people that are already prone to stress and anxiety will notice an impact after drinking any coffee at all.
If you suffer from anxiety and you don’t handle stress well, drinking too much coffee can make your situation a lot worse, so you should think about switching to a caffeine-free alternative instead.
Sleep problems
Lack of sleep leads to a wide range of physical and mental health problems. There are many reasons why people struggle to sleep, but you should always consider the role that coffee has to play.
If you drink a few cups of coffee in the morning, it shouldn’t have an impact on your sleep. However, if you drink a lot of caffeine later in the day, that may be the reason why you have difficulty falling asleep or you are restless during the night. On average, caffeine stays in your system for 5 hours, but the range can be anywhere from 1 and a half hours all the way up to 9 hours, depending on the person. So, if you drink a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon, there is still a chance that it will affect your ability to sleep. As a general rule, it’s best to limit your coffee intake and make sure that you don’t drink any caffeine after early afternoon.
Digestive Issues
The role that digestive health has to play in our overall well being is only now being understood. New research shows that your gut health is incredibly important and poor digestive health can have a big impact on other areas of your health. There is even a strong link between gut health and mental health, so it’s vital that you take care of your digestive health.
However, coffee can make this difficult because it stimulates bowel movements and in many people, drinking too much coffee can lead to diarrhea and other digestive problems. You shouldn’t feel these effects if you only drink a limited amount of coffee but excessive intake can cause a lot of digestive problems, which have a knock on effect on your overall gut health.
There are many factors that impact your digestion, like your diet or any allergies, for example. But if you are experiencing problems and you cannot work out what the cause is, try cutting back on the amount of coffee that you drink and see whether that makes a difference.
Acid Reflux
Acid reflux is a specific digestive issue that can be made much worse by coffee. Acid reflux, often called heartburn, happens because the lower esophageal muscle (LES) relaxes and allows acid from the stomach to travel back up into the throat. This causes chest pains and a bad taste in the back of the throat. There are many different things that can trigger this, but coffee has been shown to be the culprit in a lot of people.
The caffeine in coffee can relax the LES, leading to heartburn in a lot of people, especially those that drink multiple cups every day. If you suffer from serious heartburn, there are medications, like omeprazole, which can help. You can order omeprazole online and it will reduce the amount of acid that your stomach makes, so you are less likely to experience heartburn. However, you should also consider the root cause of your heartburn and try cutting back on your coffee intake to see if that makes a difference at all.
Fatigue
People drink coffee to boost their energy levels, but it can actually have the opposite effect if you drink too much. Most people find that they experience an increase in energy levels in the short term, but then the effect wears off and they are more tired than they were before. This effect carries over into the following day as well, so you become reliant on caffeine to stay alert. You can, of course, get around this if you continue to drink more caffeine throughout the day, but this will impact your sleep and make the problem much worse.
If you want to avoid this and actually benefit from coffee, it’s better to drink moderate amounts instead of drinking it constantly throughout the day.
Addiction
Addiction to caffeine is a big problem because it’s so common, even though most people don’t realize that they are reliant on it. When you drink coffee and then crash a few hours later, you might decide to drink another cup to keep yourself going. But over time, this becomes a habit and your body gets used to having caffeine all of the time. That’s why you’ll notice that you feel tired and irritable when you don’t have your morning cup of coffee.
Although it does not cause a classic addiction in the way that most drugs do, you can still develop a physical or psychological dependency on it. If you don’t drink as much coffee as you normally do, you will start to notice withdrawal symptoms like headaches or fatigue.
While being addicted to coffee isn’t as harmful as being addicted to alcohol or drugs, it is still a problem because you are dependent on it to function. This means that you’re more likely to consume it in large amounts and suffer from all of the other negative health benefits on this list.
The Bottom Line
So, should you give up coffee completely? No, there’s no need to do that and studies show that a few cups of coffee may actually be beneficial to your health. However, if you start drinking more than that, your coffee intake could be having a negative impact on your health. It also has the opposite effect that you want it to because it causes you to crash once the effects wear off and you become dependent on it to maintain normal energy levels. You won’t see an increase in energy and focus and you will feel very tired unless you have coffee.
In general, it’s best to stick to 1 or 2 cups a day and drink your coffee in the mornings. If you can limit your intake, you will still feel the benefits and it won’t impact your health.