Losing One's Mind: How Coffee affects the Brain
Do you drink coffee? Join the millions of others who do. Coffee provides a pick-me-up in the morning along with the satisfying taste and aroma of the rain forest. It's a blessing on a cold winter day.
Is coffee then healthy or harmful?
It depends on what you want to achieve by drinking it.
According to one study, if you are in your midlife years and you drink a moderate amount of coffee (three to five cups per day), you will reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65% compared with those who drank either no coffee at all or very little.*
According to another study, if you drink too much coffee (defined as more than the equivalent of seven cups of coffee a day), you may be at risk of experiencing hallucinations, including hearing voices and seeing things and people that are not there!**
So do we or don't we?
Caffeine is a potent and quick-acting drug which produces an effect similar to the stress response on our bodies. It impacts quickly and will continue to influence one's physical and mental state for up to 6-8 hours. But caffeine affects each person differently and some people may be more sensitive to its effects than others.
In the end, the research gives us the message of Know Thyself. No one can predict how you will react to drugs, either natural or manufactured ones. Just like our individual reactions to life's stresses, our bodies are uniquely our own.
So enjoy yourself. Like most things in life, a moderate amount will do just fine.
*http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135637.php
**http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135466.php
Is coffee then healthy or harmful?
It depends on what you want to achieve by drinking it.
According to one study, if you are in your midlife years and you drink a moderate amount of coffee (three to five cups per day), you will reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 65% compared with those who drank either no coffee at all or very little.*
According to another study, if you drink too much coffee (defined as more than the equivalent of seven cups of coffee a day), you may be at risk of experiencing hallucinations, including hearing voices and seeing things and people that are not there!**
So do we or don't we?
Caffeine is a potent and quick-acting drug which produces an effect similar to the stress response on our bodies. It impacts quickly and will continue to influence one's physical and mental state for up to 6-8 hours. But caffeine affects each person differently and some people may be more sensitive to its effects than others.
In the end, the research gives us the message of Know Thyself. No one can predict how you will react to drugs, either natural or manufactured ones. Just like our individual reactions to life's stresses, our bodies are uniquely our own.
So enjoy yourself. Like most things in life, a moderate amount will do just fine.
*http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135637.php
**http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135466.php
posted by Dr. Spiegel at
9:27 PM
1 Comments:
I think two cups of coffee a day is fine. The problem is that coffee is addictive and you can start drinking six to seven cups of coffee. You just seem to need more and more. For this reason, I stopped drinking coffee with caffeine a few days before Yom Kippur. I now drink only the decaf and I am very proud of myself.
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Anonymous, at Sunday, January 18, 2009
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