Caffeine & Coffee
So today my goal is to accomplish 3 things
1 Dispel some myths about caffeine
2 Tell you about the science behind it
3 Give you some tips on how to implement this into your life
Separating Caffeine Fact from Fiction
Consuming Caffeine will burn fat - Mostly Fiction
Caffeine mobilizes fat into fatty acids, but it’s up to you to actually do the physical activity required to burn them
Caffeine is bad for my heart - Fiction
Caffeine is perfectly fine in most doses, only chronic overconsumption has been shown to have potentially negative consequences (more on what we can define as overconsumption later)
Caffeine will keep me up at night - Fact
Caffeine inhibits receptors that tell you when you’re tired which can cause it to be difficult to fall asleep
Alright now that we’ve got some myths out of the way let’s move on to a little more about what caffeine actually does
Caffeine Science
So what exactly does caffeine do?
Caffeine prevents the binding of adenosine in the brain. Adenosine is essentially a hormone that slows your body down when you’re tired. This also causes an increase in dopamine (pleasure) and norepinephrine (fight or flight). Norepinephrine turns out to be pretty important here as it has been shown to both decrease appetite as well as mobilize the fat from your fat cells into fatty acids that can be burned with physical activity. So caffeine has the potential to have some pretty solid effects.
But…
There are also some drawbacks to caffeine use
Caffeine can affect your hormone balance, drinking lots of caffeine while already stressed and under-rested can elevate cortisol levels which we don’t want. Cortisol has all kinds of nasty side effects.
Weight Gain
Mood Swings
Anxiety
Caffeine also has the potential to decrease your sleep quality like I said earlier if you consume it too close to bedtime. In my experience, I just don’t get tired enough to go to sleep, so I end up tossing and turning.
Another effect to be aware of is that the more caffeine you consume, the more Adenosine receptors your body develop in response. So as you consistently drink caffeine you'll need to consume more and more to reach the same level of alertness. This is why I choose to refrain from drinking coffee unless I feel I really need it. I enjoy getting the sensation of caffeine from 1 regular cup of coffee and I don't want to have to increase that to two any time soon.
That’s all Great, but How do I use this in my Life
Try to eliminate over-consumption of coffee
My opinion on the definition of overconsumption is when it starts to become something you’re overly reliant on, or you’re consistently exceeding 400-600 mg per day. (4-6 cups of coffee a day)
Don’t drink your coffee at night!
Unless you’re not planning to sleep anytime soon as caffeine can stay in your system for multiple hours
Consume some caffeine before the gym to mobilize your fat stores
Plus, you get the added boost caffeine can add to your workout!
Don’t sweat it if you down 8 cups in a day to pull an all nighter for something crazy important because at the end of the day it won’t kill you.
What’s your favorite way to get your caffeine fix?
Let me down below and let me know if you learned anything!
Thanks for reading!
My Research/Further Reading
http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2015/11/coffee.aspx
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315611897_Review_of_Caffeine-Related_Fatalities_along_with_Postmortem_Blood_Concentrations_in_51_Poisoning_Deaths**