Excessive Caffeine Intake and Its Impact on Our Health
When it comes to coffee, many of us are guilty of indulging in too much of it. But what time should we stop drinking coffee so that we can protect our bodies from its effects?
Coffee is an essential pick-me-up for many, but drinking too much of it in one day can cause adverse effects on our bodies such as increased heart rate, jitters, headaches and insomnia. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of how coffee affects us and when we should be stopping the consumption.
It’s a known fact that excessive caffeine consumption can interfere with our bodies natural functioning. Caffeine is classified as a stimulant, which causes the body to produce adrenalin, a stress hormone, to react to the increase in caffeine. Research has found that when higher levels of stress hormones are produced, they can affect our nervous systems, leading to insomnia as well as increased heart rate, as an attempt to pump more oxygen to the brain. However, it can bring long-term effects to our bodies such as increased blood pressure and increased fatigue levels.
When drinking coffee, we should be aware of who discerning the right amount of caffeine intake for our bodies. The NHS recommends that we should limit our daily caffeine intake to 200mg, which is equivalent to around two regular cups of coffee. Therefore, if you are drinking more than this, then you are advised to cut down, especially if you are feeling any of the effects mentioned above.
Exposure to caffeine can vary from individual to individual and differ depending on how susceptible we are to its effects. This means that someone who is sensitive to caffeine may feel the effects more quickly than those who are accustomed to drinking it.
Therefore, if you are feeling any negative effects from your caffeine intake, then it is important to take notice and to start regulating how much you are drinking. To put this into practice, it can be beneficial to eat something before drinking coffee, such as toast or vegetables, to reduce the absorption of caffeine. Moreover, you should be aware of when you are feeling the effects, such as after midnight or late afternoon, and to stop drinking coffee at this point. It’s recommended that if you are drinking coffee late in the evening or just before bed, that you switch to decaffeinated or herbal teas to avoid interfering with sleep patterns.
Caffeine Withdrawal and Mental Health Issues
It is thought that drinking too much coffee is linked to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. This is because when we drink too much coffee, our brain becomes more stimulated as a result of the caffeine, making neuroscience experts believe that people who consume more coffee than normal, will find it more difficult for the brain to relax which can lead to overthinking and anxious thoughts.
Another issue which those who drink too much coffee can suffer from is ‘caffeine withdrawal’, which is the state of symptoms experienced when suddenly cutting down the amount of caffeine consumed in one day. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include headaches, nausea and fatigue. Therefore, its important to begin tapering down your coffee intake gradually instead of cutting down Cafefine all at once as these symptoms can be unpleasant.
It’s good to ensure that your body is getting the right amount of caffeine and to know when it’s time to stop. Therefore it’s important to monitor your intake, to ensure that you are getting the right amount of caffeine and not too much.
Implementing Positive Habits with Coffee
In essence, the best time to stop drinking coffee is to ensure you are drinking the right amount of coffee pre-furnishing and not over-consuming it. To sustain this, you should introduce other habits which could replace coffee when trying to increase energy levels and motivation. For example, having a 20 minutes power nap in the afternoon or doing regular exercises.
Exercising regularly not only has health benefits but it can also help to stimulate the brain and just like coffee, leave you feeling energised and motivated. Therefore, when trying to reduce caffeine intake, it’s worth trying to replace coffee with light exercise such as taking a brisk 20-minute walk or going for a run.
Additionally, you can prepare for consumption in advance by scheduling coffee breaks throughout the day and ensuring that you are not too reliant upon coffee to get you through the day. This helps to normalise and regulate caffeine consumption and ensures that you are reaping all the benefits of coffee whilst limiting its negatives effects.
The Benefits of Drinking Coffee in Moderation
Drinking coffee in moderation can have numerous advantages on our bodies such as reduced levels of stress, improved concentration and increased levels of motivation and energy.
For starters, coffee helps to prevent fatigue and drowsiness during the day, enabling you to complete all tasks with ease. Coffee helps to produce hormones such as dopamine and noradrenaline, which can make you feel alert, feeling and motivated to complete tasks in a more efficient manner. Additionally, coffee has cognitive benefits as it helps to boost memory and concentration, allowing us to take in more information and thus perform better at home and in the workplace.
Furthermore, coffee can have cardiovascular benefits as well. A recent study has found that drinking coffee can protect us against cardiovascular diseases, as it can help to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease.
Enjoying Coffee in the Right Way
Another key factor to share is moderation, as allowing yourself to overindulge in coffee can be detrimental for different areas of your life. One way to practice moderation is to implement the ‘one cup rule’. This means that you should only drink one cup of coffee everyday and to not over-consume in coffee in one day.
If you find that it’s difficult to practice moderation, then setting diaries and timers to track how much coffee you’re drinking in one day can help. This helps to ascertain when and how much coffee you are drinking and thus helps to discipline your intake.
Maintaining Balanced Coffee Intake
Overall, drinking coffee in moderation is the best way to allow ourselves to reap all of coffee’s benefits and to hardly feel its effects. Practicing moderation is beneficial and helps us to ensure that we are taking in the right amount of caffeine intake and not over-consuming.
When drinking coffee, it’s important to consider your body’s reaction to it and to adjust the amount of coffee you’re consuming. Regulating your caffeine intake is beneficial, not just for your body but also for your mental health. It’s important to stop drinking coffee at the first sign of any adverse effects and to replace it with a different activity to reduce the reliance on coffee.
Eating to Reduce Caffeine Impact
When consuming coffee, you should also consider what you’re eating as food can affect the way caffeine is absorbed by the body. It’s suggested that eating something before drinking caffeine will limit the body’s absorption of the substance and thus reduce its effects. For example, eating a banana before drinking a caffeinated beverage will reduce its absorption by around 25%. Additionally, although caffeine can have positive effects on the body, it can also have negative effects when drank late in the day, so it’s important to watch our intake and switch to decaffeinated drinks or herbal teas by late afternoon.
Knowing When to Switch
In conclusion, although coffee has numerous benefits and can help us to feel energised and motivated, drinking too much of it can lead to numerous problems. Understanding what is the right amount of coffee for you is beneficial, as it allows your body to build up a tolerance and to drink the right amount for you without any adverse effects.
It’s important to remember that our bodies can react differently to caffeine and to vary depending on our body’s metabolism. Therefore, it’s beneficial to practice moderation and to learn to regulate the amount we’re drinking, as well as introducing other habits which could replace coffee consumption.
Additionally, if you find that you are drinking coffee late in the day, then it’s advised to drink a decaffeinated version or switch to herbal teas to avoid interfering with our sleep patterns. Finally, it’s beneficial to consider what we’re drinking coffee with, as this can shape the way we consume caffeine and thus limit its effects.
Being Aware of Coffee and Its Benefits
Finally, the key lesson to take away is to be aware of the effects of coffee and to practice moderation when attempting to reap its benefits. It’s important to understand our own bodies and to recognise when it is time to stop or switch to decaffeinated beverages.
Although coffee can have numerous benefits, its important to remember that too much of it could have an adverse effect. So, it is important to be disciplined when drinking coffee and to make sure that you are only taking in the appropriate amount for you. This ensures that you are able to reap all of its benefits without any adverse effects.
