HEALTH

Consuming Too Much Caffeine?

Here is what it does to your body.

illustrated by- Bibhuti, Photo by Olivia Snyder on Unsplash

Have you ever had to do that late-night shift to complete the task you were assigned? And to fuel your productive machine, you guzzled an umpteen amount of caffeine? If your answer to this question is yes, then let me just inform that you, my friend is not alone. Well, there is one confession that I have to concede — “I am drinking coffee right now as I write this article”. I mean who doesn't consume caffeine. It is present everywhere — coffee, chocolate, tea, cola/soda, guarana, mate, and where not. It will take a barbarian to not ingest caffeine. Now that we have acknowledged ourselves as an involuntary caffeine gourmand, I would love to make you acknowledge the effects of doing so.

Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Generally, it is a psychoactive substance and is consumed to improve mental alertness. Some people gormandize caffeine orally as medicine for asthma, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), gallbladder disease, and many other disorders, but there doesn't exist any cogent scientific evidence to subsist most of these usages. In 2019, Clinical Nutrition conducted a survey to impart the statistics of caffeine intake of University students. The results are as follows:

Mean daily caffeine consumption for all students, was found out to be 159 mg/day with a mean intake of 173 mg/day among caffeine users.

Caffeine acts by invigorating the central nervous system (CNS), heart, muscles, and the centers that control blood pressure. When it reaches your brain, the most discernable effect is alertness. Caffeine increases alertness by blocking the effects of adenosine, a hormone responsible for making you feel tired. Simultaneously, it initiates the discharge of epinephrine, a hormone responsible for sky-rocketing our energy levels (also commonly known as “adrenaline”). You’ll feel more awakened and less exhausted. Hence it is a common ingredient in medications to treat headaches, drowsiness, and migraines.

Midst of myths and squabbles about whether caffeine is good or not, science posits that moderate coffee consumption can be both beneficial and risky.

The Effect

Drinking too much of this can also incite adverse effects. In addition, the emerging trend of adding caffeine to drinks and snacks that do not naturally contain it has engendered incremental problems.

• Anxiety & Nervousness

According to reports, caffeine has been shown to increase anxiety and impair sleep. Daily intakes of 1,000 mg or more per day have been reported to provoke nervousness. and resentment in most people, whereas even a moderate consumption may lead to similar effects in caffeine-sensitive persons.

• Bone Tenuity

Well, Surprise! Surprise! I bet you didn't see this one coming, huh! High caffeine intake expedites bone slenderness. A research discerned that women who had undergone menopause(aged around 40–50) who consumed more than 300 mg per day of caffeine lost more bone in the spine than women who consumed less than 300 mg per day. The consumption of soda drinks (cola) has also been exhibited to be acting as causative of osteoporosis.

• Fertility Rate

A diagnostic research discloses that caffeine can minimize muscle activity in the fallopian tubes, which is responsible for transmitting eggs from the ovaries to the womb, which is an intermediate process of reproduction. So, what does that indicate? It's pretty clear that it will reduce the fertility rate of a woman. Another research states that caffeine reduces a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant by about 27 percent.

• Insomnia

As you know that caffeine induces alertness in your body which literally makes us least likely to ingress into a slumber or it can increase the amount of time it takes us to fall asleep. This results in declination of total sleeping time, especially in geriatrics which can make you an insomniac.

• Mental Health Issues

A research from 2016 divulges that high consumption of caffeine during adolescence can lead to permanent changes in the brain. In an article from NCBI, they stated:

Caffeine consumption is an environmental factor that may increase the risk of developing neuropsychiatric conditions.

The scientists conducting the research verbalized concern that this could lead to an increase in the risk of anxiety-related conditions in adulthood.

• Addiction

After all, caffeine is a “drug” and there’s no denying that it may become habit-forming. Excess consumption of these can incite psychological or physical dependency. Although it activates certain brain chemicals as cocaine and amphetamines do, caffeine doesn’t cause standard addiction the way these drugs execute.

• Hyperglycemia

It is quite ostensible that we consume caffeine indirectly by drinking sodas, coffees, teas; eating chocolate, and whatnot. And most of the aforementioned food items contain sugar in them (unless you are consuming them sugar-free). What this is gonna do is that it will spike your blood glucose levels (diabetes). Which can make you more likely to have cardiac diseases.

• Diuretics (Excessive Urination)

Caffeine consumption may also mess with the fluid balance in our body. In one study, 12 caffeine consumers were instructed to desist from caffeine for a week and were then given 642 mg of caffeine in the form of coffee and tea. Their urine output turned out to be escalated when provided the caffeine.

• Gastrointestinal Issues

There are some people who necessitate a morning cup of coffee to help get their bowels functioning(you know what I mean). Coffee’s laxative effect has been attributed to the release of gastrin, a hormone that stimulates the secretion of gastric juice which accelerates the function in the colon. Weirdly enough, decaffeinated coffee has also been exhibited to induce an identical reaction.

The Cloture

Despite all of these dispiriting and gloomy effects of caffeine consumption, there do exist some benefits of doing so. Research into the effects of caffeine has delivered mixed results. Excessive intake of it is intoxicating while moderate consumption of caffeine is unlikely to affect detrimentally in Millenials. Some of the several benefits of moderate consumption of caffeine are:

• It provides a high nutritional value(2 calories).
• It prevents weight gain and also boosts your weight loss plan.
• It makes you more alert and makes you the most productive yourself.
• Lifelong caffeine intake reduces the chances of developing Alzheimer's, Liver Cancer, Kidney Stone, and Parkinson's' Disease.

I think you have been provided enough reasons(excuses) for you to consume your beloved caffeine. If you think you are exceeding the utopian amount of caffeine to be eligible to encounter the aforementioned benefits, consider the following points to energize yourself organically:

• Guzzle whatever amount of water you can devour when you wake up in the morning & between meals (basically keep yourself hydrated)
• Add milk to your coffee/tea if possible
• Start exercising (Sit less, Get Active)
• Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages(sodas) in the afternoon or evening
• Try reducing the brew time of your coffee/tea