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Dana Tygar

Professor Ogunya

ENC 2135

31 March 2017

The Secrets That Every Coffee Drinker Should Know

The exploration of coffee effects on the body has been very popular in previous years;

there has been extensive research deciding whether or not coffee is good or bad for the human

body. Many of this research consists of an undefinable answer because there is so much that goes

into the researching of coffee effects. However, most research studies tend to agree on the fact

that caffeine is the most pervasively used psychoactive drug in the world (Gilbert 1984). There

are many more cons than pros to the intake of coffee; people are consuming it in the wrong ways

and at the wrong times. There are many ways in which coffee effects the average person: in their

sleep patterns or awakening abilities, and more largely in their health and overall well-being.

It is important to note that as with every other food, there is some truth behind the term

everything is good in moderation. For some people though, a moderate amount of coffee differs

from others. According to the Mayo Clinic, a recommended amount of caffeine a day for most

adults is around 400 milligrams. This averages out to about 4 cups (32 ounces) of coffee per day.

To put things into perspective, a grande cup at Starbucks is 16 fluid ounces, therefore 2 grande

coffees per day would be the moderate allowance for people to consume. Moreover, it is

important to realize that this is a recommendation for healthy adults and that number can and will

differ amongst peoples. Also, 400 milligrams is a recommended amount of caffeine per day,

therefore if a person is also drinking other beverages such as soda or energy drinks throughout

the day, that will limit how much coffee is safe for them to consume. Although there are
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recommended amounts of caffeine that are considered safe to consume, caffeine is not regulated

by the United States Food and Drug Administration [FDA] (Rockett 32). The fact that the FDA

is not aware of this nations caffeine intake could be the first problem that the country is facing in

terms of caffeine addiction.

The college years are filled with fun, exploration, and piles of homework or assignments,

and getting an education is the most important part of a most college students life. Accordingly,

it is no surprise that many coffee addictions can begin during the college years. Many kids spend

hours of their nights with their noses in textbooks and in the libraries. This adventure can turn

into long and restless nights especially after students procrastinate many of their assignments;

those restless nights then turn into tired days. It is seen daily at the local coffee shops, especially

ones on the Florida State University campus, the long lines that form throughout the days for

people to get their cup of coffee or whatever caffeinated drink that they desire. Research done on

coffee consumption in students lives, says that 78.34% of students habitually drink coffee more

than 3 times a week (Gotia et al. 8). This shows that students are relying on coffee for more than

half of their school week. This is mainly because they are not getting enough sleep at night, and

are working on zero energy throughout the daytime, so they need coffee to escape from

exhaustion. Also, this statistic does not indicate how much coffee per cup these students are

reportedly getting, which can alter whether or not they are consuming an unhealthy amount.

Most adults when they wake up in the morning for work tend to start their days with a

cup of coffee. This is usually the case for most people, along with college students as well. This

morning routine has even been seen to have very small negative impacts. In fact, Professor

Stephanie Sherman of Boston College found that a cup of coffee in the early morning hours

reversed a decline in memory in various adults who underwent memory testing in an experiment
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that she conducted. Sherman has suggested that caffeine might influence performance by

boosting general levels of arousal during non-optimal times of day (Sherman, et al. 2). Sherman

referred to the early morning hours as a non-optimal time verses the afternoon hours which are

when humans operate at their most optimal levels. This means that it would be ideal for people to

consume a simple cup of brewed black coffee in the morning. A suggestion for ideal coffee

consumption would be to drink coffee about an hour before the time that the wakening effects of

coffee is needed because "once ingested, caffeine is rapidly absorbed in the upper gastrointestinal

tract, with a peak value within 60 minutes of ingestion (Martini et al. 2). For example, if work

starts at 8:00 am, aim to have coffee around 7:00 am or even drinking it on the drive to work

would allow the time for caffeine to perform its magic before the work day begins.

All of these positive effects aside, it is important to know at what time ingesting coffee

actually becomes dangerous or hazardous. When students start to drink coffee throughout the

nighttime hours is when it begins having an adverse effect on the body. Ingesting coffee at night

could be beneficial, for example, when driving late at night in order to stay awake while on the

road. However, it is not wise to drink coffee on a normal night at home since caffeine increases

alertness and decreases sleepiness (Smith 1247). One of the biggest factors of this phenomenon

is sleep deprivation. When the body craves sleep at night and it does not receive sleep, is when

certain disorders such as insomnia, can begin to develop. More women than men have reported

symptoms of insomnia and even the development of depression after habitual coffee

consumption (Jacobsen and Hansen 291).

In a graph shown from a medical analysis of caffeine, it depicts that an increase of

caffeine consumption leads to an increase of sleep deprived hours during the night (Chaudhary et

al. 1197). Sleep deprivation eventually turns into an unescapable cycle that may result in more
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caffeine intake, including during the latter part of the circadian day, [in order to] achieve

alertness (Chaudhary et al. 1197). Since the human body lives in a circadian rhythm, caffeine

intake will interrupt the internal clock that allows people to sleep and wake up during the night

and daytimes. Therefore, the intake of coffee will hinder any sleeping patterns that the body

creates for itself.

Not only does caffeine mess with a persons sleeping pattern but also it lessens the quality

of sleep that a person will receive if they consume caffeine too close to bed time. In an

experiment done in Switzerland by Ian Clark and Hans Peter Landolt, they found that caffeine

affects three characteristics of sleep hindrance. These three characteristics were an impediment

on sleep latency, sleep efficiency, and sleep duration. The experiment found that sleep latency,

which is the amount of time it takes a person to fall asleep, was increased by 7 minutes via the

experiments participants (Clark and Landolt 74). In addition to this, their sleep efficiency or

their total time asleep, was decreased by 5% (Clark and Landolt 74). Lastly, the duration of their

sleep time was at a 28-minute deficit (Clark and Landolt 74). It is clearly seen here the

downsides of consuming coffee too late at night.

The best way to avoid an unhealthy intake on coffee and prevent it from destroying a

sleeping pattern is to monitor at what point during the day one consumes caffeine. As previously

mentioned, it is best to only have a cup of coffee in the morning to wake the body up and

stimulate the brain. Consuming it at nighttime when the body is preparing for rest will confuse

the body and its natural sleep cycle. Like with anything else, it is important to take note of any

warning signs the body may be showing. If a person is not sleeping through the night this could

have a correlation with the amount of coffee that is ingested during the day. Additionally, it is in

best interest to refrain from staying up late hours at night because the body will then thrive on the
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need for caffeine which will be a very difficult habit to break. Staying on top of ones

schoolwork and studying will be very beneficial not only to prevent stress and anxiety but also to

keep the body healthy and functioning properly.

Although caffeine intake will negatively impact a persons sleep schedule, it also has

more severe effects on a persons overall health. The effects on health lie both in a persons

mental health such as their memory, and their physical health like their bodily functions and

prevention of diseases.

Being that coffee addictions can begin in college years this means that a person may live

the remainder of their life as an avid coffee drinker. When a person perpetually drinks coffee day

in and day out, their levels of addiction continue to rise just as they would with a drug such as

marijuana or cocaine. People may not realize that when recurrently feeding the body with

caffeine, its effects begin to lose purpose. A person who has a need for coffee every day, and

fulfills that need, will eventually build up an immunity to it; and there is evidence that repeated

exposure to caffeine leads to the development of tolerance (Hindmarch at al. 312). This means

that the same cup of coffee everyday will eventually not yield the same benefits that it used to.

Over time, the amount of consumed coffee will need to be dramatically increased in order to

receive the same jolt of energy that the small amount of coffee once provided.

Like with any other drug, when a person does not drink coffee, their body begins to go

through a withdrawal state and actual performance [is] significantly impaired when caffeine [is]

withdrawn abruptly following habitual use (Hindmarch et al. 213). It is important to understand

that caffeine provides addictive qualities such as other recreational drugs and could become a

serious problem for the body to cope with when caffeine is not supplied. When a person creates a
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routine of daily coffee drinking and that routine is interrupted, a person will experience a lack of

normal body functioning.

Professor Smith from Cardiff University in The United Kingdom states that the effects

of coffee withdrawal are controversial (Smith 1249). The effects are disputable in that, in some

samples of Smiths research, he reports that a persons physical daily performance would remain

unaffected by a removal of caffeine. However, other aspects of Smiths research shows, in some

samples that caffeine withdrawal impaired short-term memory performance (Smith 1249). As a

student, any negative effects on short-term memory would most definitely inhibit their studies. If

a student were to stay up all night to study for a final exam, they are likely to drink coffee either

throughout that night time study session or early the next morning only minutes before that big

test. Here is when a withdrawal of caffeine would obstruct the workings of the cortical

structures [of the brain] that regulate short term memory (Raquel and Jesus 46). Therefore, after

all the work put into to studying throughout the night would be completely lost after ingesting a

cup of coffee.

In addition, excessive caffeine intake has also been reported to promote anxiousness in

people. As a college student who is balancing many classes along with other responsibilities, an

increase in anxiousness will add to the many stresses that a student already faces. Smith declares

that patients with anxiety disorders report caffeine exacerbates their problems (Smith 1244).

What this means is that with already diagnosed anxiety disorder patients, their anxiousness

seems to worsen with a consumption of 300 milligrams or more of caffeine (Smith 1244). For

others who are currently not diagnosed with anxiety, too much caffeine could eventually lead to

unwanted problems such as an anxiety disorder diagnosis.

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Aside from a development of a psychological disorder such as anxiety, according to the

DSM IV, a disorder by the name of Caffeine Dependence Syndrome, has become an outcome of

people who recurrently drink coffee. The DSM IV is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders Fourth Edition, which is a manual used by the American Psychiatric

Association to use a diagnostic tool to classify mental illnesses (American Psychiatric

Association). An experiment that was produced by Eric Strain, MD. used subjects who felt that

they were dependent on caffeine on either a psychological level or a physical level (Strain et al.).

The subjects of this experiment reported that they felt compelled to continue caffeine use

despite desires and recommendations to the contrary (Strain et al.). Thus the formation of the

Caffeine Dependence Syndrome in these individuals. The body begins to thrive on the

dependence of the drug that makes that person feel content or able to function. All of this

information should be kept in mind when a person is ingesting a substance as powerful as

caffeine. Many people are ignorant to what is actually entering their bodies.

Caffeine does much more than cause psychological disorders, it also plays a large role on

the physical health in the human body. The first major problem of high levels of coffee intake, or

in general, caffeine consumption is that it results in [a] significant increase in BP [blood

pressure] in both laboratory and ambulatory settings (Farag et al. 1175). High blood pressure is

very dangerous in people, mostly in the elderly, and can cause severe damage to the heart and

can invoke a heart attack. Experiments done on how caffeine effects the rise in blood pressure in

the human body, shows no difference on the likelihood of effecting men or women more than the

other. Age plays a large role in the development of high blood pressure, where older people live

at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure from repetitive coffee drinking.
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Moreover, caffeine has been seen to effect women in others ways more than men; the

most notable way is in pregnancy. In a CNN article, it was discussed that coffee can be

particularly dangerous for women when they plan to become pregnant because they are more

likely to miscarry and caffeine does reach the fetus and might restrict growth (LaMotte).

This can be important for women in their mid-twenties to take note of, so they can avoid any

health complications when trying to become pregnant or if they are pregnant. During pregnancy

women should avoid caffeine or limit themselves to one cup per day, but of course should always

consult with a healthcare professional to find the best option for them.

Aside from just college students, caffeine intake is looked at as a nationwide sort of

epidemic. According to Ronald J. Troyer of Drake University, coffee has gone from just a

morning cup to a social custom (Troyer and Markle 403). In fact, he states that some health

groups are pressing government agencies to regulate caffeine in products and urging the public

to reduce or eliminate their caffeine consumption (Troyer and Markle 403). These groups are

trying to convince the public of the possible negative effects of caffeine intake, especially after

viewing the disadvantages that is has on human health and sleep inhibitions. However,

companies such as Starbucks, are flourishing in this world of coffee addicts. Whereas it is in a

persons best interest to steer clear from these places that are serving sugar-filled, syrup flavored,

caffeinated drinks, Troyer has found these companies are promoting a counter argument. Their

motive is to encourage people to come into their stores and buy their products.

As the company Starbucks continues to rise, especially in this society of avid coffee

drinkers, people refuse to turn away from a cup of coffee if it is what they desperately desire.

People line up to get their everyday caffeine fix which create dents in their wallets and long

waiting lines in the early dreaded hours of the mornings. In a journal exploring the innovation of
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the company Starbucks, it has been reported that one of the companys biggest flaws is their

colossal product prices (Orta et al. 30). However, the companys adequate financial

sustainability and their stance as the largest chain of coffee farm houses around the world

allows them to continuously prosper in this generation of coffee addicts (Orta et al. 30,31).

Starbucks and their booming business is what many people thrive on in the early mornings and

throughout the day. Despite Starbucks raging popularity, it isnt the only coffee business with

lines out the door every morning; also, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and other small local

family owned coffee shops are busy with their returning coffee loving customers.

Coffee drinking has become so common that its like drinking water. But unlike water,

which seemingly has zero negative effects, caffeine will eventually effect that body in one way

or another as seen through the points discussed previously. The term anything is good in

moderation definitely applies to coffee and its quantity. There have been studies showing that

moderate coffee consumption may help prevent several chronic diseases, including type 2

diabetes, mellitus, and Parkinsons disease (Gotia et al. 9). This goes to show that a healthy

amount of coffee wont completely harm the body. Stephanie Sherman of Boston College states

that caffeine is the most widely used stimulant (Sherman et al. 1). Also, it is consumed by 80%

of North Americans. This shocking statistic proves that it is impossible for Americans to escape

their world of coffee consumption; it is an unbeatable addiction. However, compared to other

possible addictions in this crazy world, it is a favorable one. If a person is experiencing severe

impacts from coffee consumption is it wise to seek medical help in order to nurse the body back

to normal. However, if a person is functioning fine with their intake of coffee it is not something

to have urgent concern over. After all, A coffee a day keeps the grumpy away (Unknown).
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Works Cited

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