Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Coffee is my best friend

I think we can all collectively agree that coffee, is the nectar of the gods.

Waking up first thing in the morning, and brewing that warm and delicious drink can determine whether if, you'll  have a good day or possibly murdering someone....

I personally feel that without coffee, there's no point for the rest of the day....


Now, lets get down to the nitty gritty..... Here are some points to consider when it comes to your daily dosage of coffee and how it affects your body.

  • Genetics. Your genes play a huge role to metabolize this stuff
  • Coffee tends to interact and influence certain hormones and neurotransmitters in the body
  • Performance. Coffee can enhance your athletic performance in the gym and sport, even though there are some nay sayer's out there stating coffee "dehydrates" your body. 
  • Power Naps. This one is my favorite, having a small dosage of caffeine before a nap, can enhance the quality and in turn give you more energy when you wake up ( I love naps, nothing beats it. I'm taking about 20 minutes top, not 1-2 hours by the way!...)
To make this blog entry shorter, I'll elaborate on a few points I mentioned above.

Lets break "it down" shall we?



1. Your Genetics... They determine whether you'll be bouncing off the walls for 8 hours and can't fall asleep at night, or you'll have a small boost lasting 15-20 minutes, and you're completely normal later in the day.

There are two categories to put yourself in. You're either a "slow metabolizer" or a "fast metabolizer" of caffeine.

If you're a slow metabolizer, its suggested you should cut your caffeine consumption to a minimum dosage. If you are drinking 4 cups a day and can't seem to have solid quality sleep, this might be the issue.

Along with poor quality sleep quality, here are few other things that coffee has an influence over
  • higher risk of miscarriage
  • Increased blood pressure
  • even a non fatal heart attack aka "jammer"
On the flip side, fast metabolizers can drink coffee like water, and not have adverse effects like the ones above. So, good news, go ahead and have that espresso at 4pm in the afternoon to get you going! 

I personally fall under this category. At one point I was drinking 8 cups of coffee a day... I know, I can hear all of you right as you're reading this. But I've experimented going off coffee for a month and my energy levels stayed the same, and along with other things, nothing changed. But that's whole other blog entry, most likely....


2. Hormones

Cortisol and insulin are both affected by the consumption of coffee during the day. Each play a vital role to your well being, and considering there are a lot of people who drink coffee on a daily basis, read up this next section!


Coffee can increase your cortisol levels, but it depends on how often, what time in the day and if you have high blood pressure.

So, when am I supposed to drink coffee you might ask?

The morning? As you wake up, your natural cortisol levels are already high, so adding a cup of coffee wouldn't do you any harm. Where as later in the afternoon and evening, your cortisol drops. Then if you spike it again, you'll be flying down a roller coaster of hormones and might do more harm than good to your body.


So, to sum up.....  Coffee is safe on the most part depending on the individual. Be smart with your consumption if you tend to get jumpy after a cup. Those who can tolerate coffee, you can rest easy knowing you are not doing harm to your body, so........





Again, feel free to comment below!

References

Armstrong LE. Caffeine, body fluid-electrolyte balance, and exercise performance. Int J Sport Butr Exerc Metab 2002;12:189-206

Earl RW. Essentials of strength training and conditioning
National Strength Training Association, 2nd ed. Human kinetics.
Champaign, IL, 2000.Borer KT. Exercise Endocrinology. Human kinetics.Champaign IL. 2003.Groff JL &gropper SS.
Advanced nutrition and human metabolism. 3rd Wadsworth Thomson Learining. 2000. ed.Harvery RA, Champe PC eds.
od Nutrition, & Diet Therapy. 11th ed. Saunders Publishing, Philadelphia, PA. 2004.Pawlak L. Stop gaining weight. 1st ed. Biomed General. Concord, CA. 2004.

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