Physical and mental health benefits of coffee

Coffee confers benefits upon both our physical health and mental health. In this blogpost, we will look at an overview of these benefits.
However, most of the findings are only associations while some have cause and effect relationships. Note that this is not a recommendation for you to necessarily start increasing your daily coffee consumption, especially in a drastic manner. That may result in adverse health effects.

So, how does coffee affect health?

Improve brain function
You probably know that Coffee contains Caffeine, a psychoactive substance. But do you know how it helps to energise you?

When you drink Coffee, Caffeine travels to your brain via the bloodstream. It blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter called adenosine. This leads to an increase of other neurotransmitters including norepinephrine and dopamine. The neurons fire faster, enhancing brain function.

Not only do you gain elevated energy levels, but your mood is boosted, along with memory, vigilance and reaction timings. [1]

Additionally, the European Food Safety Authority established a cause and effect relationship between heightened alertness and attention and caffeine in a regular cup of coffee. [8]

You can stay alert at work, or while having a cold, and managing family, household and other errands. Also, you don’t have to worry about forgetting things. Beat the tiredness with Coffee! (Please don’t drink too much, it will reduce effectiveness).

Burn fats
Concerned about your weight and how your appearance? Caffeine is a natural fat-burner. As before, this process starts in the brain, with caffeine.

The brain increases the amount of a hormone, epinephrine (adrenaline) in the blood. This indicates to the fat tissues that they should release fatty acids into the blood (also used as fuel for strenuous physical activity, more on that later).

Obviously, you have to be losing more calories than you consume, by either eating less or exercising more. But don’t fret too much about that because coffee also helps to boost fat-burning by increasing the metabolic rate. Read on.

Increase Metabolism
‘Resting Metabolic Rate’ (RMR) refers to the rate at which the body burns calories at rest.

This means that with a higher RMR, you can eat more and lose weight easier.

Caffeine boosts RMR so it will be easier for you to lose weight with coffee; Double the benefits! [2]

Enhance Physical Performance
Adrenaline not only helps to burn fat, but it is also the fight-or-flight hormone that readies the body for extreme physical activity. The fatty acids which are broken from fat tissue are used as fuel to boost physical activity.

Next time you are about to do some intense physical activity like running, weightlifting or dancing, drink coffee to get better performance, while also boosting your calorie-burning! [1]

Gain Essential Nutrients
Coffee also contains various essential nutrients for the body, including Vitamin B2, B5, Manganese and Potassium, Magnesium and Niacin. It is also packed with myriads of antioxidants, which fight unstable molecules in the body. This protects against aging and ailments such as cancer, as well as lift our mood. This is impactful for mental health, which leads us to the next point. [1][3][4]

Reduce risk of Clinical depression
Drinking coffee may help to prevent clinical depression, a critical mental disorder that destroys lives. Additionally, drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day may also drastically decrease the risk of suicide. [1][9]

This is because caffeine may be a mild antidepressant that increases the levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline. [11]

It also helps you to smile, which is a step toward living a more fulfilled life!

Reduce risk of Neurodegenerative diseases
Related to mental health and a fulfilled life, routine coffee consumption also helps to reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. These diseases particularly affect the elderly, hence drinking coffee from young is a good way to protect against such ailments. The most common is Alzheimers, and it contributes significantly to dementia. [8][9][10]

Protect Organ function
Besides the brain, drinking coffee also confers benefits on other organs of the body such as the liver. However, coffee consumption must average at three cups per day.

Besides the liver, it is suggested that the cardiovascular system also gains benefits from coffee consumption.
Coffee consumption is also associated with a greatly reduced risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Indeed, it is even associated with living longer, especially for those suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. [3][5]

While we want to live longer, we also want to live it well. A morning routine is key to many people’s health and success and you can adopt that too! Start it off with something as simple as coffee. If you think that is not a big deal, read on to find out how you can beat two birds with one stone. Get your day going with positivity and productivity with the following lifehacks!

Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness helps us to be aware, alert and not let the stress in our lives overwhelm us. Many of us go by our days without being mindful at all, allowing our minds to wander with the worries of life. Mindfulness meditation (yes, it is a kind of meditation) is a habit. And you can let coffee aid you in building the habit!

In just under 4 minutes, learn how to practice mindfulness meditation with coffee preparation and consumption. For example, many of us just note the smell of the coffee, without noticing it. To get into the habit of being mindful, notice how the smell of the coffee permeates your nasal sense! Indeed, the process of being mindful should start when we see the coffee packaging itself!

At Sinouk Coffee, we designed elegant Cafes and premium packaging that will be useful for mindfulness meditation!

Gratefulness and Relationship building
Coffee also helps us to be grateful and have healthier relationships, both of which are critical for a healthy life. While making coffee in the morning, this coffee lover decided to make one for their partner too. One is happy to give, while the other is happy to receive. They can also sit down and check in with each other, which kicks off they day to an amazing start. Gratefulness can be celebrated in this moment of bonding over coffee!

A manager uses the moment of drinking coffee to “reflect on the days’ goals and priorities”. They also added that coffee helps to begin conversations in the office and enable colleagues to bond. Connections in the workplace help to reduce stress, which means that the immune system is not overburdened.

That was a very long list on the overview of the benefits of coffee and we hope you learned something new! Perhaps you would like to start including coffee in your morning routine, or diet?

Stay tuned to our blog for more updates by subscribing to our newsletter below! We have amazing ideas on how you can improve your life with coffee!

References:

Featured Image (Top of Page) by Ena Marinkovic from Pexels

[1] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-13-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee#section1

[2] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coffee-increase-metabolism#section1

[3] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-is-coffee-good-for-you#section1

[4] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coffee-worlds-biggest-source-of-antioxidants

[5] https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-latest-scoop-on-the-health-benefits-of-coffee-2017092512429

[6] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270202#benefits

[7] https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5024 (no causals)

[8] https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/coffee-and-the-mind/

[9] https://thriveglobal.com/stories/coffee-has-surprising-effect-on-mental-health/

[10] https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/neurodegenerativedisorders/

[11] https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/07/drinking-coffee-may-reduce-risk-of-suicide-by-50/