If you’re like me and the umpteen million other coffee drinkers out there, you most likely fire up your coffee pot or endure your morning pilgrimage to the drive through for a simple reason: to jolt you awake like Victor Frankenstein’s monster. That’s perfectly valid, as is repeating the exercise later in the day to stave off the early afternoon slump that our circadian rhythms so kindly provide.
After your first espresso or drip coffee fix of the day, the caffeine globs onto receptor sites in your brain, stopping the neurotransmitter adenosine doing the same. This then increases production of the feel good hormone dopamine. Plus, caffeine stimulates your central nervous system, helping you shake off the morning cobwebs. When it comes to suppressing fatigue, caffeine speeds nerve cell activity up after attaching to the adenosine receptors – the opposite effect to when adenosine binds to them. So your brain doesn’t know that you’re getting tired (though after a while the body can make more receptor sites, blunting caffeine’s impact).
But perking you up and helping you overcome fatigue are only two of the benefits that moderate caffeine consumption provides. Others include:
Speeding Glycogen Replenishment
Regardless of whether you’ve gone Paleo, have embraced a ketone diet or are just trying to balance a healthy mix of whole foods, your body depletes glycogen during exercise. In addition to needing protein to kickstart the recovery process and electrolytes to rehydrate, your body needs to top up its diminished glycogen store. Combining java with your post-exercise snack, meal or smoothie helps you increase glycogen uptake by 66%, enhancing acute recovery.
Revving up Your Metabolism
Various studies have demonstrated that caffeine increases the Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) by three to 11 percent. Coffee and other drinks and foods containing caffeine also promote production of the hormone epinephrine, which stimulates the nervous system to break down fat cells. No wonder that Bulletproof Coffee does the trick in the morning.
Studies have shown that moderate caffeine consumption cuts the risk of cancer developing and recurring.
Cutting Your Disease Risk
While too much caffeine can increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol, interfere with sleep and contribute to adrenal problems if consumed in excess, for most people, the pluses outweigh the minuses. Many studies have shown that moderate caffeine consumption cuts the risk of cancer developing and recurring – reducing colon cancer incidence by 25 percent, oral and head cancers by 39 percent and prostate cancer by up to 60 percent. Daily caffeine intake has also been shown to reduce the risk of older adults getting Alzheimer’s.
Preserving Your Vision
As we age, many of us will suffer from some degree of diminished vision. Getting enough vitamin A from foods like red cabbage, sweet potatoes and carrots helps keep our peepers healthy, but coffee also plays an underrated role, too. Researchers at Cornell University found that the chlorogenic acid (CGA) in coffee can help avoid hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) in the retina, therefore helping prevent macular degeneration, glaucoma and other eye conditions.
