I've Been Drinking Coffee - Fact or Fiction

My favourite hobby has become TikTok! I love the trends that anyone can do, especially when they get relatable. When Ariana Grande dropped 34+35, TikTok creators took the song and created a soundbite just to showcase their love for coffee:

Personally, I'm a big fan of iced coffee, especially when it's milky and sweet. But the pandemic led to new levels of anxiety, and I found it getting worse every month. What I didn't notice was my body felt worse on the days I had coffee - so obviously I decided to produce an informal experiment.

I cut out caffeine for 2021.

Yes, all caffeine - coffee, Coca-Cola, tea, even coffee-based chocolates. And I noticed I started to get a lot better. My sleep improved, I was drinking more water to compensate for the liquid I was lacking, and I started to feel myself relax a little bit. So the next thought was to do some research into whether this was a fluke or actual science. I found this article that helped me learn about the benefits and disadvantages of caffeine. So let's dive into Fact and Fiction with the help of the study.

FACT: Caffeine poisoning is a thing

Drinking more than 1 gram (10 cups) of coffee a day can cause caffeine poisoning, otherwise known as caffeinism, with side effects such as anxiety, insomnia, and stomach problems. 99% of the caffeine you drink is absorbed by the blood, and this can seriously infect your circulation and digestion systems. The scariest thing is that this excessive caffeine consumption can lead to death in some cases, depending on how sensitive your body is to caffeine.

FACT: Caffeine hurts your mental health

With the stigma around mental health disappearing, it's becoming more common to value our mental health on the same page as the rest of our bodies. Part of this is taking care of our sleep, our stress levels, and our management of mental illnesses. Turns out, coffee can play a big part! It increases the risk of anxiety and depression, as well as increasing sleep disorders. These risks are higher in women and teenagers (age 11 to 17) when compared to men and adults, respectively.

FICTION: Caffeine is 100% horrible for you

Surprisingly, this isn't true! The study found that having more than 3 cups of coffee reduced the risk of having a stroke. It also states that some papers report the preventive effect of coffee on the onset of diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity, which is a risk factor for stroke. But take this with a grain of salt. This is based on two studies that specifically state that this is observed in women, and it also noted that in some cases, the risk of stroke doubles in people who drank 7 or more cups of coffee compared to non-coffee drinkers. There is also evidence that caffeine can decrease the risk of depression and dementia in adult women, and decrease the risk of Parkinson's disease in adult men.

So what does this mean?

Well, it means something different for each person. You have to make a personal choice in terms of your diet, and consider the risks and benefits for you. Are you a high school senior who drinks three energy drinks every day and struggles with your mental health? Reducing your caffeine intake might help you feel better. Are you an older woman with a family history of stroke? Maybe increasing your caffeine will help. But above everything else, these are decisions you should make with a medical professional, especially when going off of the benefits advice.

It's great to reduce our intake of junk foods, but these are things that should be figured out based on your diet, lifestyle, and medical history. For me, cutting out caffeine from my diet helped, but that's not to say I will never ever have a sip of my favourite iced coffee again. I introduced orange juice into my diet, which really helped me replenish the vitamin C and D my body was lacking in the winter, but I might enjoy a Coke in the summer! It's about educating yourself and finding what works for you.