Caffeine, Stress and Your Health: Is Caffeine Your Friend or Your Foe?
By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com
Updated: November 01, 2007
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
Caffeine is a drug, popularly consumed in coffee, tea, soft drinks and, in smaller doses, chocolate. While we seem to have a love affair with these products, there’s been quite a bit of confusion and even controversy surrounding caffeine lately. Is it good or bad for us? Here’s a brief tutorial on caffeine, and some surprising answers to these questions.
Effects on the Body:
* Hormones- You can feel the effects of caffeine in your system within a few minutes of ingesting it, and it stays on your system for many hours—it has a half-life of four to six hours in your body. While in your body, caffeine affects the following hormones:
* Adenosine- Can inhibit absorption of adenosine, which calms the body, which can make you feel alert in the short run, but can cause sleep problems later. (More on this below.)
* Adrenaline- Caffeine injects adrenaline into your system, giving you a temporary boost, but possibly making you fatigued and depressed later. If you take more caffeine to counteract these effects, you end up spending the day in an agitated state, and might find yourself jumpy and edgy by night.
* Cortisol- Can increase the body’s levels of cortisol, the “stress hormone”, which can lead to other health consequences ranging from weight gain and moodiness to heart disease and diabetes.
* Dopamine- Caffeine increases dopamine levels in your system, acting in a way similar to amphetamines, which can make you feel good after taking it, but after it wears off you can feel ‘low’. It can also lead to a physical dependence because of dopamine manipulation.
These changes caffeine makes in your physiology can have both positive and negative consequences:
* Sleep - Caffeine can affect your sleep by keeping you awake longer, thereby shortening the amount of sleep you get, and giving you less time in the restorative stages of sleep, which takes a toll on your level of alertness the next day and overall health.
Interestingly, though, caffeine doesn’t affect the stages of sleep the way other stimulants do, so it’s a better choice than speed or other ‘uppers’ to use if you need to stay awake.
* Weight - Many experts believe that increased levels of cortisol lead to stronger cravings for fat and carbohydrates, and cause the body to store fat in the abdomen. (Abdominal fat carries with it greater health risks than other types of fat.) Also, if increased cortisol levels lead to stronger cravings for caffeine-laden foods, the body goes into a cycle that leads only to worse health.
The good news, though, is that caffeine can speed up metabolism. Also, it can help the body break down fat about 30% more efficiently if consumed prior to exercise. (You must be exercising to get this benefit, though.) Additionally, caffeine can keep blood sugar levels elevated, leaving you feeling less hungry.
* Exercise - If caffeine elevates levels of cortisol and other hormones for a temporary boost, after caffeine wears off, the body can feel fatigued and feelings of mild to moderate depression can set in. This can make physical activity more difficult.
On the positive side, caffeine has been found to enhance physical performance and endurance if it isn’t overused. This, combined with its effect of fat burning during exercise, can actually enhance workouts and enable you to get in better shape if you take it at the right time.
Caffeine and Stress
Because caffeine and stress can both elevate cortisol levels, high amounts of caffeine (or stress) can lead to the negative health effects associated with prolonged elevated levels of cortisol (which you can read about here). If you ingest high levels of caffeine, you may feel your mood soar and plummet, leaving you craving more caffeine to make it soar again, causing you to lose sleep, suffer health consequences and, of course, feel more stress. However, small to moderate amounts of caffeine can lift your mood and give you a boost.
The Verdict on Caffeine
With potential negative and positive health consequences, caffeine can be your friend, but in controlled doses. Here’s what you should remember about caffeine:
* Don’t Take Too Much Because of the health risks (above) associated with higher levels of caffeine, as well as the risk of physical dependence that can come with four cups of coffee or more each day, it’s wise to limit your caffeine intake. (Withdrawal symptoms can include cravings, headache, fatigue and muscle pain.)
* No Caffeine After 2pm Because sleep is important to proper physical functioning, and caffeine can stay in your system for 8 hours or longer, you should cut off or limit your caffeine intake to the first part of the day to ensure that your sleep isn’t disrupted.
* Enjoy Caffeine With Physical Activity Caffeine is best ingested before exercise—that way your performance is enhanced and the stress-management benefits of exercise can keep you healthy and feeling less stressed throughout the day.
MY THOUGHTS
That's it!!! The culprit for insomnia and weight gain - caffeine. We feel that having coffee with friends is a stress reliever. This is why Starbucks got really popular. Well, their coffee is great and the I find the prices cheaper considering the sizes. But you can get addicted - to the coffee, the company, the ambiance - if you don't watch it. Until you realize you have less money in your pocket because you consume 3-4 "grande mochas" a day (they're around every corner - so easy to grab one). And then you realize you can't fit into your clothes - 3 grande mochas would be a at least 1500 calories. And if you smoke, coffee and ashtray seem to go together. So if you want stress relief - stay away - from coffee, from Starbucks. Early morning coffee - go! Starbucks - maybe once a week?
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
"bad" stress relievers
Unhealthy Responses to Stress and How These Bad Habits Affect You
Here Are 5 Of The Most Common Bad Habits:
By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com
Updated: December 31, 2008
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
If you tend to deal with stress in less-than-healthy ways, you are compounding the negative impacts of stress on your health by exacerbating the stress levels and creating new problems in your life and health. The following are some common unhealthy ways of coping with stress, along with some of the negative effects of each, and ideas on how to curb or change the bad habit itself or lessen its impact.
Bad Habit #1 - Consuming Too Much Caffeine:
Multitudes of people enjoy a daily caffeine intake, as evidenced by the extreme popularity of Starbucks and other coffee houses. And while the occasional coffee isn’t going to do you great harm, it’s important to remember that caffeine is, in fact, a drug, and it’s possible to have a full-blown caffeine addiction. More likely and common, however, is caffeine dependence, where people use caffeine to jump-start their energy in the morning, use it throughout the day to stave off a ‘caffeine crash’, and then find their sleep disturbed by caffeine, causing them to wake up tired and need the caffeine jolt to get going again the next day. As the cycle continues, caffeine affects stress levels as well. If this sounds a little too familiar, here are some resources to help kick the caffeine habit.
Bad Habit #2 -Smoking:
For smokers, a cigarette can feel like a good stress reliever. In fact, during times of stress, a cigarette feels almost necessary, and quitting the habit can seem virtually impossible. (Due in part to physical addiction and in part to habit and other social and lifestyle factors, it’s been said that quitting smoking is as difficult as quitting heroin!) Unfortunately, we all know that cigarettes can be costly—financially speaking and especially health-wise—and because smoking creates much more stress than it alleviates, it’s more than worth it to kick the habit. For help, visit the Smoking Section of the Unhealthy Behaviors resource category on this site.
Bad Habit #3 -Drinking In Excess:
Many people find that a glass of wine can be a good way to unwind at the end of a stressful day, and most physicians and researchers agree, citing studies that show that red wine has benefits for heart health. However, drinking can be a slippery slope, as excessive drinking can cause problems in virtually every area of a person’s life, causing much more stress in the long run. If you are one who has trouble limiting alcohol consumption to one or two drinks, and even if you can drink very moderately, but find that this is your only regular stress management practice, it would likely be in your best interest to pursue other forms of stress relief. For more on alcohol consumption, see the Alcohol Section of the Unhealthy Behaviors resource category. For additional ideas on stress relief practices, here’s a long and varied list of stress relievers.
Bad Habit #4 -Compulsive Spending:
People have many ways of relieving stress or of filling a void inside themselves. While buying yourself a nice gift once in a while can be a nice pick-me-up, and an effective self care strategy, compulsively buying things to relieve stress or feel good about yourself, spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need, can only cause more financial stress in the long run, and cause feelings of shame, a cluttered home, and add to the stress you were trying to alleviate.
Bad Habit #5 -Emotional Eating:
Most of us let our friends Ben & Jerry help us reduce stress with ice cream on occasion (or at least most of the people who took this poll on emotional eating said they did), but if eating the wrong things becomes a main coping mechanism for stress, it can lead to compromised health, excessive weight, and additional stress stemming from these effects. A poor diet can cause additional stress also by leading to blood sugar imbalances that make stressful situations seem more overwhelming. If you find that stress leads to poor dietary habits because of emotional eating, or for other reasons (like you’re just too busy to cook healthy dinners at home), you can learn to adapt healthier eating habits with these resources.
Additional unhealthy responses and bad habits include self sabotage and lashing out at others, working to the point that you live an imbalanced lifestyle, and other things. For more help with bad habits and mild to moderately unhealthy responses to stress, visit the Unealthy Behaviors section, read the Stress Relief Game Plan, and take the free e-course on Living a Low Stress Lifestyle. I also highly recommend this article on maintaining healthy habits!
MY THOUGHTS
Stress relief strategies can indeed lead to more stress - if you're using the wrong
techniques. Caffeine causes insomnia and lack of sleep adds up to stress since your human systems failed to regenerate. Smoking (ouch) clouds your thoughts, causes headache and leads to more health problems. When you drink, you tend to forget the stressors for awhile but that's about it. You wake up with a humongous hangover and you get more stressed trying to remember what crazy things you did while intoxicated. Well, uncontrolled eating, we all know where that would lead us. And a sure fire way to get more stressed. Eating is definetely a no-no when you're trying to relieve stress. Now,shopping! This doesn't seem harmful does it? especially if you have tons of money. But when we buy what we don't need and buy what we can't afford then we're in big trouble. First, because the extra, unnecesary, unplanned
expense will catch up with us. But more importantly, unwise spending is not a good
stewardship. In truth, all of these "bad" stress relievers are "bad" examples of
stewardship. Everything we have are God's gifts and we were commanded to take care of everything we own. The best stress reliever of all is to pray - constantly, unceasingly. Who else can give us comfort from stress but the One who loves us the most.
Here Are 5 Of The Most Common Bad Habits:
By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com
Updated: December 31, 2008
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
If you tend to deal with stress in less-than-healthy ways, you are compounding the negative impacts of stress on your health by exacerbating the stress levels and creating new problems in your life and health. The following are some common unhealthy ways of coping with stress, along with some of the negative effects of each, and ideas on how to curb or change the bad habit itself or lessen its impact.
Bad Habit #1 - Consuming Too Much Caffeine:
Multitudes of people enjoy a daily caffeine intake, as evidenced by the extreme popularity of Starbucks and other coffee houses. And while the occasional coffee isn’t going to do you great harm, it’s important to remember that caffeine is, in fact, a drug, and it’s possible to have a full-blown caffeine addiction. More likely and common, however, is caffeine dependence, where people use caffeine to jump-start their energy in the morning, use it throughout the day to stave off a ‘caffeine crash’, and then find their sleep disturbed by caffeine, causing them to wake up tired and need the caffeine jolt to get going again the next day. As the cycle continues, caffeine affects stress levels as well. If this sounds a little too familiar, here are some resources to help kick the caffeine habit.
Bad Habit #2 -Smoking:
For smokers, a cigarette can feel like a good stress reliever. In fact, during times of stress, a cigarette feels almost necessary, and quitting the habit can seem virtually impossible. (Due in part to physical addiction and in part to habit and other social and lifestyle factors, it’s been said that quitting smoking is as difficult as quitting heroin!) Unfortunately, we all know that cigarettes can be costly—financially speaking and especially health-wise—and because smoking creates much more stress than it alleviates, it’s more than worth it to kick the habit. For help, visit the Smoking Section of the Unhealthy Behaviors resource category on this site.
Bad Habit #3 -Drinking In Excess:
Many people find that a glass of wine can be a good way to unwind at the end of a stressful day, and most physicians and researchers agree, citing studies that show that red wine has benefits for heart health. However, drinking can be a slippery slope, as excessive drinking can cause problems in virtually every area of a person’s life, causing much more stress in the long run. If you are one who has trouble limiting alcohol consumption to one or two drinks, and even if you can drink very moderately, but find that this is your only regular stress management practice, it would likely be in your best interest to pursue other forms of stress relief. For more on alcohol consumption, see the Alcohol Section of the Unhealthy Behaviors resource category. For additional ideas on stress relief practices, here’s a long and varied list of stress relievers.
Bad Habit #4 -Compulsive Spending:
People have many ways of relieving stress or of filling a void inside themselves. While buying yourself a nice gift once in a while can be a nice pick-me-up, and an effective self care strategy, compulsively buying things to relieve stress or feel good about yourself, spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need, can only cause more financial stress in the long run, and cause feelings of shame, a cluttered home, and add to the stress you were trying to alleviate.
Bad Habit #5 -Emotional Eating:
Most of us let our friends Ben & Jerry help us reduce stress with ice cream on occasion (or at least most of the people who took this poll on emotional eating said they did), but if eating the wrong things becomes a main coping mechanism for stress, it can lead to compromised health, excessive weight, and additional stress stemming from these effects. A poor diet can cause additional stress also by leading to blood sugar imbalances that make stressful situations seem more overwhelming. If you find that stress leads to poor dietary habits because of emotional eating, or for other reasons (like you’re just too busy to cook healthy dinners at home), you can learn to adapt healthier eating habits with these resources.
Additional unhealthy responses and bad habits include self sabotage and lashing out at others, working to the point that you live an imbalanced lifestyle, and other things. For more help with bad habits and mild to moderately unhealthy responses to stress, visit the Unealthy Behaviors section, read the Stress Relief Game Plan, and take the free e-course on Living a Low Stress Lifestyle. I also highly recommend this article on maintaining healthy habits!
MY THOUGHTS
Stress relief strategies can indeed lead to more stress - if you're using the wrong
techniques. Caffeine causes insomnia and lack of sleep adds up to stress since your human systems failed to regenerate. Smoking (ouch) clouds your thoughts, causes headache and leads to more health problems. When you drink, you tend to forget the stressors for awhile but that's about it. You wake up with a humongous hangover and you get more stressed trying to remember what crazy things you did while intoxicated. Well, uncontrolled eating, we all know where that would lead us. And a sure fire way to get more stressed. Eating is definetely a no-no when you're trying to relieve stress. Now,shopping! This doesn't seem harmful does it? especially if you have tons of money. But when we buy what we don't need and buy what we can't afford then we're in big trouble. First, because the extra, unnecesary, unplanned
expense will catch up with us. But more importantly, unwise spending is not a good
stewardship. In truth, all of these "bad" stress relievers are "bad" examples of
stewardship. Everything we have are God's gifts and we were commanded to take care of everything we own. The best stress reliever of all is to pray - constantly, unceasingly. Who else can give us comfort from stress but the One who loves us the most.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)