A Cup a Day?

So many of us wake up in the morning to the dreadful sound of our alarm clocks, and we haul our reluctant bodies from slumber, and up into the fast pace of our everyday lives. With little time for breakfast, or even a moment to pause and consider nourishing ourselves for the day, we grab a cup of coffee and head out to do the daily grind. Ah yes, the daily grind... something that relates to both coffee and our stress levels! And how do we respond to stress and fatigue?

We drink coffee!

• The average american drinks over 26 gallons of coffee per year. Coffee contains over 300 chemicals, and caffeine is only one of them. There are about 75mg of caffeine in the average cup of coffee, but in expresso, the caffeine content is over 100mg. Average? Over 3 cups per day, for more than half the American population.

• Aside from the fact that coffee pulls minerals out of storage in the bone tissue and hastens their excretion from the body, (this increases the potential for osteoporosis, PMS, menopause symptoms, gastrointestinal disturbances, and increased blood pressure) coffee is not kind to the brain either.

• Coffee is an addictive drug, in the same category as cocaine and amphetamines, affecting the same parts of the brain as cocaine, although different and weaker.

• Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world today.  At least 80% of the world’s adult population uses enough caffeine laced beverages and foods to affect the brain.

• Caffeine enhances the effects of dopamine (enhances sexual arousal and performance, increases hypersensitivity and hyperresponsivity, large muscle activity, etc).

• Caffeine increases the energy metabolism throughout the brain but simultaneously reduces the amount of blood flowing to the brain, so while the brain’s energy requirements are higher, there is less energy pumped in to meet this elevated demand.

• Caffeine increases the stimulating neurohormone, noradrenaline, and reduced the calming neurotransmitter, serotonin.

• Coffee increases the secretion of calcium from our bones, hastening the onset of osteoporosis.

• Coffee increases the rick of birth defects

• Coffee increases blood pressure, increasing the risk for developing heart disease.

• Coffee is implicated in seizure disorders

• Coffee contributes to insomnia, depression, and anxiety disorders.

• Coffee, along with sugar, is one of the most monied industries in the world. (What about coffee karma? The politics of equitable coffee production aren’t even being considered here! It’s a well known fact that some of the poorest nations in the world supply our coffee, and it is readily apparent that these farmers and producers are not the monied ones in the industry.)   For a little more on the story of karmatic coffee, click here.
  

Although having a cup of coffee might seem like the perfect solution in terms of alleviating your fatigue, it actually does way more harm than good. If you have trouble coming off your fix, try substituting green tea for your morning brew. Although it contains caffeine, it contains much less than the average cup of coffee and comes with the added benefit of being a rich source of free-radical fighting anti-oxidants.  

With appropriate sleep and adequate physical activity, pretty soon your coffee dependency will be a thing of the past!