When people usually take a break from a long day of work, they usually head for the pantry to reach for a cup of coffee. Many a coffee drinker believe that coffee is one of the best stress reliever around. But unfortunately, the opposite is true.
Caffeine, which coffee has a lot of, is a stimulant and not a relaxant. It helps increase one's work performance, but it can also heighten stress and anxiety.
Caffeine has been proven to increase stress hormones like cortisol and neurotransmitters like norepinephrine in the body. It is these stress hormones that give us a sense of alertness, not to mention an increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure.
When stress hormones and brain chemicals are released, concentration is enhanced, strength and agility improved, and reaction times become snappier. This is mainly because the circulation is diverted to the extremities, thus allowing for heightened response and concentration.
But when you combine a sedentary lifestyle with a daily consumption of more than 3 cups of coffee a day, you keep your stress hormones level constantly elevated. And when this happens, the memory and concentration enhancing effects of coffee is not sustained because feelings of anxiety and tension are now increasing. At the same time, one's fine motor coordination gets impaired. Constant intake of caffeine through coffee will significantly increase cortisol and norepinephrine production, triggering the body's stress response.
If you're under the impression that habitual coffee drinking will help you develop a tolerance to caffeine and its effects, well you're wrong. The body does not become immune to the caffeine, nor will the increase in stress hormone production be dampened.
Coffee may be your comfort food when you're stressed or feeling anxious, but know that if you continuously chug down on this caffeine-rich beverage, you're only going to make your stress and anxiety worse. With this in mind, it is best to keep your coffee consumption in moderation.
Coffee: Stress Reliever Not!
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