I like coffee, and so does many people, but drinking too much coffee do have adverse effect on your health fitness. Despite some research saying that coffee got anti-oxidant so in effect drinking coffee may be good for you too. So in a sense how much coffee is too much?
We all like to have a cuppa in the morning to perk ourselves up so that we can get on with work. That’s the caffeine part talking, of course if you like yours sweet like I do, then the added glucose also helps to contribute to the energy levels in your body to get going on your work life.
However there are adverse effects when drinking too much coffee. Here are some of the effects of too much coffee in your daily routine.
Hallucinations – This study was done by the BBC on students, and the amount of coffee consumed was seven cups or more per day! Drinking too much coffee has the effect and three times more likely to hearing voices and seeing ghosts! Coffee is a stimulant and can stimulate hallucinations. Sounds interesting, perhaps should give it a try? Nah!
Liver damage – And I though alcohol was bad for your liver, it seems caffeine too needs to broken down by your liver to help detoxify your body to remove it from your body.
Disruption of sleep cycle – Now this one is arguable, not everyone is affected by the caffeine stimulant. For light drinkers like me, a cuppa at night will keep me awake because of the caffeine. I know of a friend who dare not take any drink with caffeine such as coffee, coke or tea after lunch as the caffeine still remains in his body till late at night and thus not able to sleep. Not sure whether that is psychological but that’s how he feels. And I know of some people who must have their cup of coffee before bedtime otherwise they can’t sleep!
Stained teeth – yep, and you would have thought smokers get stained teeth. Coffee drinkers get them too! Coffee tends to coat your teeth with a nice layer of patina, and you can’t brush them off, unless you do remember to rinse your mouth after drinking to lessen the patina effect. Well I just went to the dentist to have my teeth scaled to remove the stain, it was getting unsightly and it was time for my yearly scaling anyway!
Dehydration – If taken in high doses, you will get dehydrated from the diuretic effects of drinking too much coffee. So don’t forget to drink plenty of water! That’s why the Chinese would say coffee is also “heaty”; this concept of “heating” and “cooling” food and drinks on the internal workings of our human body is a mystery to most Westerners and Western medicine, think of it as a little bit like the Yin and Yang of food.
Irritable bowel syndrome – If you got a poor digestive system that is prone to diarrhoea like me, you would know that certain foods and drinks would tend to irritate your bowel. And yes, coffee does do that, it is even more explosive when coupled with milk to make into a nice cup of latte. Well, there is good side to this, at least you won’t get constipation!
So there you go the side effects of too much coffee. Coffee may provide you energy and alertness in the morning for your work life, it may stimulate you and keeps you awake (or sleep for those who need the fix to get to sleep!) and sometimes coffee can sap your energy when you take too many cups per day. Although it contains some anti-oxidants, and the media blitz the health benefits of drinking coffee for the anti-oxidant, there is a flip side to it from the stimulating effects of caffeine with possible side effects of heart palpitations, anxiety, irritability and depression. Then again I need my coffee fix in the morning! Like everything else too much coffee is not a good thing so keep it in moderation.
Cheers!
[update 19/8/2013]
Found this article from WebProNews, apparently having too much of your cuppa per day is really no good for you!
Researchers looked at more than 43,000 patients in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, which followed people between the ages of 20 and 87 from 1979 to 1998. Those who drank large amounts of coffee were more likely to smoke, and were found to have lower overall cardiorespiratory fitness levels. Both men and women who drank excessive amounts of coffee were found to have a greater than 50% increase in their mortality risks.
The study points to research showing that coffee can inhibit insulin, increase blood pressure, release epinephrine, and increase homocysteine levels as possible reasons for the higher mortality risk. Also suggested is that addiction to coffee may have genetic associations with other risk factors.
source: http://www.webpronews.com/high-coffee-consumption-linked-to-higher-death-risk-2013-08
My goodness! In any case, one should stick to moderation when consuming coffee or anything for that matter. I suppose tea should be drank in moderation. After all, both coffee and tea are diuretic. Drinking too much of either means you have to have frequent toilet breaks and you would lose as much water as you have drunk. So one should drink plain water to avoid getting dehydrated from drinking too much tea or coffee.
Cheers!
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