“Drinking coffee could help protect your DNA from damage,” is the latest of several headlines that seem to make their way into my Facebook news feed. In true fashion, I skim the article and then share it with one of my coffee-addicted friends. Also on that list: coffee helps reduce melanoma risk, protects against diabetes and even prevents the risk of certain neurological diseases.
On the other hand, caffeine can also be harmful to your health in larger doses. Some side effects range from smaller things such as rambling thoughts and speech to more serious side effects such as hallucinations.
I just think it’s incredibly interesting from a scientific perspective. It’s really a testament to how everything has positive and negative consequences.
Coffee is really great, in small amounts, and I could sit here and give a lecture about how it’s important to consume things in moderate amounts. I could sit here and spout facts and figures I learned in neuropharm talking about caffeine as a stimulant and how stimulants work in the brain, but I won’t because you probably wouldn’t continue reading past about the first sentence.
I will say, however, that coffee addiction is really a thing and if you drink too much coffee, your body will become accustomed to it which means you have to drink more coffee to get the same effect – that sometimes means having to pay for that extra shot of espresso at Starbucks which is just ridiculously expensive.
At the end of the day though, I’m always going to side with the coffee drinkers. I’m going to embrace the supposed health benefits and be weary of the detrimental effects, but I know people who manage to walk through life without coffee, and even some who don’t drink caffeine period. Honestly, I admire them. I’m not going so far as to say I think I might have a dependency on caffeine since I know I can go weeks without it, but especially in the middle of test week or weeks where it feels like you have 30 hours of work to fit in 24 hours, I’m thankful for coffee.
How important is coffee in your life? Can you go without your daily caffeine fix? Let me know!