It is a known fact that coffee has always received mixed opinions from different populations regarding different criteria, mostly health concerns, and the fact that there is new information coming up in conversations and random news feeds is not helping.
All the so-called facts on the internet about coffee are just increasing the level of concern regarding caffeine consumption. Luckily, most of them are spoofs and need to be busted. Here are a few myths about coffee to help you indulge in your regular cup of coffee guilt-free.
Coffee dehydrates you
Just because the caffeine in itself is dehydrating, your cup of coffee cannot dehydrate you. This is because the water pulled up by the caffeine in your coffee is significantly less than the amount of water that you add to your cup of coffee and is ultimately canceled out; if not, it even adds to your daily water intake.
Caffeine tends to increase the overall water expelled from your body per se, but it does not necessarily mean dehydration. This has a more detailed scientific explanation to it regarding several filtrations and osmotic factors involving the kidneys and the peripheral tissue. There are several scientific resources that can be found on the internet as well. You can check them out if you are still concerned.
Coffee is addictive
Caffeine is only a mild stimulator of your central nervous system when taken as coffee, unlike situations where it is taken as a drug or medicine. This is because the regular coffee grounds or powder that you use contains amounts of caffeine that are only mildly stimulating and cannot cause any severe adverse effects as it is, including addiction and dependence.
Also, it is almost impossible to get tolerant to caffeine, and drinking more coffee does not increase your caffeine requirement.
Coffee helps you lose weight
Sure, caffeine can help you boost your metabolism, but the margin is so flimsy that it does not amount to anything. The increase in the metabolism is too little to even be noticed, let alone help you lose weight.
What it can actually do is make you feel full for a short period of time, but it has been observed to even induce appetite in a few cases. However, tea has been found to be more efficient than coffee in this context. This is because of the increased anti-oxidant and relaxing factors that are present in tea, rather than coffee which is mostly just stimulating.
Afternoon coffee causes insomnia
This is an absolute myth that needs to be busted out of the ballpark. The stimulating effect of caffeine can exist for as long as four to seven hours at best. It is near impossible for you to stay up at night just because of the cup of coffee you had at 2 pm.
But practically speaking, if your afternoon coffee is already your fourth cup of coffee, considering that you only take the recommended standard serving per cup, your sleep schedule is highly prone to get messed up.
Hence, rather than staying away from coffee just because it is later in the day, try and monitor the amount of coffee you consume and act responsibly over it. Check the recommended amount to be taken per day for your body specifics and modify your coffee breaks accordingly.
Coffee is a hangover cure
Caffeine cannot reverse the intoxication caused by alcohol in a person, but what it can do is increase the alertness of the intoxicated person. So technically, caffeine cannot help you sober up; it only makes you more functional.
The effects of coffee after a hangover or an intense drinking session can only temporarily mask the effects of alcohol, making you seem normal at most. This is not something you can do on a regular basis or try increasing the amount of coffee you take for the same, because that will just lead to several other problems and complications.
Coffee can stunt your growth
This one has been around for generations now, and people are still concerned about children taking coffee because it can slow down their growth. However, there is no research or study that can back up this statement and hence is an absolute myth as well, regardless of the time it has been around.
Lastly, you don’t really have to stick to decaf if you have trouble with your heart or other underlying health issues. Caffeine only causes a very mild amount of arrhythmia and other side effects on consumption and is not significant enough to be concerned about.
