How many times have you felt a bit tired and decided to rely on an energy drink, a cup of coffee, or a can of cola to charge your body with caffeine and boost your energy levels to maximum? If your answer is “frequently” then you are on a precarious path to poor health. Not only does caffeine have numerous emotional side effects, it will also disrupt your sleep, and cause harm to your body. For all of its immediate benefits, caffeine is one of the most harmful substances in the modern American diet.
Like two sides of the same coin, the side effects of caffeine can be both good or bad depending on your perspective. Millions of people load up on caffeine because of its instant effect on energy and attention. It keeps a late-night driver alert or perhaps helps a busy college student pay better attention in class. But excessive consumption of caffeine-soaked drinks comes with a steep price. Frequent daily use can cause insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, anxiety and headaches. While caffeine may offer you some benefits in the moment, like a credit card bill after Christmas, it extracts a heavy toll after the moment of need has passed. …show more content…
An additional significant toll caused by caffeine is the disruption of sleep patterns.
One of the major reasons you may use caffeine is to extend your hours of wakefulness so that you can get more done during the day. However, energy drinks, coffee and similar beverages just suck all the energy you have that is meant to last all day and leave you exhausted later. Then, when you need sleep more than ever, the caffeine keeps you from falling asleep, shortens the time you stay asleep, interferes with deep sleep and makes your night less restful. You get in a cycle as you wake up tired the next morning and reach for your jumbo jolt of
java.
Beyond just missing a night of sleep, caffeine can affect you with more serious, long-term and often damaging physical consequences. You may have read recently that consumption of caffeine can stop skin-aging or help you lose weight. But, as the saying goes, beauty is only skin deep. Beneath your silky smooth skin and toned tush, use of caffeine can cause you to develop brittle bones and an irregular heartbeat. Why? Caffeine causes your body to expel excessive calcium in the urine, leaving your bones and your blood without the calcium and other minerals and nutrients that they need to stay healthy. Like a mummy, you may weigh less than ever and have skin that outlasts the pyramids, but you sure will be a mess on the inside!
From the days of the pharaohs and before, humans have been ingesting caffeine. By torch, candlelight, or compact fluorescent lightbulb, people have turned to caffeine to keep them alert and awake. But now, in modern times, caffeine is more available than ever. If you use it to excess, it will mess with your emotions, interrupt your sleep, and cause your body to age faster than normal. So next time you crave a percolating pot of perk, remember that, long after the aroma is gone, the damage can remain. Although it is society's most popular “pick-me-up,” caffeine can cause more damage to your mind and your body than anything else in your diet.