It doesn’t matter if I got a good nights sleep or went to bed at three am, when I wake up I have to have my cup of coffee. Now throughout high school a lot of my friends would tease me because every morning before classes would start I would show up with my 32 ounce Tervis full of coffee. They’d often say I’m dependent on it. I started to question the benefits of coffee, and if I’d be worse of without it. Well like many other questions that have resonated within me, I believe science has already answered this.
After reading this page, I learned a lot about what is actually in coffee. I never took a second to realize that this wonderful cup of liquid was made out of anything else but happiness. A regular eight ounce cup of coffee has up to five calories, no fat or carbs, .2 milligrams of vitamin B2 roboflavin ( living organisms get most of their energy from reactions with this vitamin (cite). Coffee also has .6 milligrams of pantothenic acid, which is used for a variety of things, mainly pairing with other B Vitamins to prevent illness. There are 116 milligrams of potassium in coffee, we all know this is helpful in preventing cramps. Finally, in an eight ounce cup of coffee, there are about 95 Milligrams of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant drug, which means it increases alertness, attention, and most of all energy.
The following abstract describes how coffee is beneficial to an individual. Not only does coffee provide a boost of energy, it increases dopamine in the brain. So, scientifically speaking, coffee has the ability to bring happiness. The vitamin in coffee called niacin can also treat the niacin deficiency known as pellagra disease. A study could easily be conducted providing information supporting that coffee improves health. It would be an experimental double blind placebo trial tested on college students. The control group would not drink coffee at all. The first experimental group would drink one cup of coffee daily, while the second group would drink two or more cups daily. I’m having trouble thinking of how health may be measured in the average college student. Perhaps academic performance can provide an explanation. I believe those who drink coffee in moderation would have a better academic performance, and that drinking coffee would be beneficial to health.
I am currently just finishing up my caramel macchiato from Starbucks while reading this post, so I can fully relate to loving coffee. Your blog post though was kind of short when talking about coffee. I liked how during it you talked about what was in coffee, because I truly didn’t know. I think you should’ve included a study to back up your question though. http://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/118984 This study talks about how coffee can affect someone during the day vs. the night. I think you should take a look at it and possibly use it for this blog post if you want. I do like how you thought of how you could fully run a study and all the different parts of it but I just wanted to let you know there are studies out there that do look into the stuff you are interested in finding out about! 🙂
As a coffe dependent person, this blog made me happy. The one part I’d be interested to know more about is how coffee make the brain release more dopamine. I know that dopamine is the “pleasure” neurotransmitter in the brain and so coffee helping release more it this is pretty cool! This article suggests that coffee is so addictive because it increases dopamine flow and increases “arousal” in the brain (which really just means alertness in psychology) https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201110/why-does-coffee-make-us-feel-so-good. It’s so weird how a drink can connect so closely with the brain.
I think that I am the person that drinking coffee at night doesn’t affect my sleep quality. But my roommate told me that when she drinks coffee, she feels that her heart-rate quickens. I don’t know that whether coffee can make people alerted or just due to psychological effect. And the topic is really interesting. When we talk about coffee, we are less likely to talk about that coffee has the ability to bring happiness and health. So thanks for posting it!
Hi hi!
I always find blogs about coffee and their benefits to be interesting, becuase I to am an avid coffee drinker. I love a mug or two of black coffee in the mornings, but I don’t drink it for any other reason than the taste. I always thought I was crazy becuase coffee simply doesn’t bring me energy or wake me up at all. I can drink all the coffee I want before bed and still fall asleep perfectly fine. By looking at this link, http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-sensitivity I found that I am “Hyposensitive” to caffeine. This would make sense becuase both of my parents are the same way. Nevertheless, coffee is a good accessory to any breakfast.
Abigail