Coffee is the sustaining force behind our busy American lives. We drink coffee in the morning, the afternoon, and even at night. I’ve especially noticed this since I came to a college with three coffee shops, and seen how many people are drinking coffee at all hours of the day. But there comes a point when we have to start thinking about what we’re doing to our body each time we get that extra jolt.
Now I’m not saying I think we should stop drinking coffee, for me that would basically mean stop living. I’m just trying to say that too much coffee (more than 500 mg-600 mg, or
4-7cups) can have detrimental side effects to our brains, bodies, and of course, our sleep, and that we should take that into consideration before we drink yet another cup of coffee.
Caffeine can be a very addictive and sometimes harmful drug. If a person isn’t careful, they could end up having to have it throughout the day, just to stay alert, or even awake.
This could adversely affect our system in many ways.
The reason caffeine works so quickly and effectively is because of what it does to our hormones. Adenosine, adrenaline, cortisol, and dopamine are some of the hormones affected by caffeine. Caffeine makes it hard for your body to absorb adenosine, which is what calms the body. This can give you a boost temporarily, but that night, your body won’t get the proper R.E.M. that it needs, because it isn’t getting the proper amount of adenosine.
Also adrenaline is released, which is what makes you feel 
alert and awake, but once the caffeine leaves your system, you crash, which results in finding more caffeine. Cortisol is also released, which is called the “stress hormone”. This causes many issues, like weight gain, moodiness, heart disease, and diabetes. One other hormone affected is dopamine. This has the same affect as amphetamines, which can make you feel good after taking them but lead to a significant “low” as they begin to wear off. This is also what causes our dependence on caffeine; it makes the nervous system feel like it always needs to have a lot of dopamine going on. Coffee affects many things in our bodies.
Coffee/Caffeine is large part of many people’s lives, and while it can be a wonderful thing, it can also be very harmful to us, if we have too much each day.
Like coffee, I agree that anything taken in excessive amounts can have adversise side effects. However, although you did state the adverse effects of coffee you didn't point out it's benefits. According to Web MD, "A growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to nondrinkers, are:
ReplyDeleteless likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia
have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes". Also according to a study by the University of Scranton, coffee is America's number one source of antioxidents that help protect your body from disease. After all coffee is a natural substance, derived from the coffee bean. Coffee like everything has both negative and positive side effects. The best way to protect yourself from ill side effects is to keep it in moderation.
Maya,
ReplyDeleteIn my first post, I was talking about the negative side effects of drinking too much caffeine. I realize there are positive things that can come from it, I was just ignoring them. But thanks, I'll try to make the "large amounts of caffeine" aspect clearer in my next post.