We all love our coffee and to hear it has health benefits is amazing. Most of us drink coffee at least three times a day, and as we head out for our early morning espresso, there is a no better aroma for the coffee lover, as the coffee wafts through the air to greet us. So, today we are going to look at the 20 incredible health benefits of coffee. Coffee is an antioxidant, and quite a strong one and this is where many of its benefits arise from.
1. Energy levels
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If you are feeling a bit sluggish when you get out of bed coffee will boost your energy levels and set you up for the day ahead.
2. Coffee makes you Smarter
It sharpens your focus, and if you are studying for that all-important exam, coffee provides you with some clarity of thought.
3. Cognition
Helps you to work things out more accurately, and may stave off Alzheimer’s disease. Studies are currently being carried out on mice to test this.
4. Coffee improves Physical Performance
If you are about to play tennis, put on the espresso machine as coffee will improve physical performance, and you will play better. You can drink as much coffee as you like as coffee is not a performance-enhancing drug.
5. Coffee may Aid Weight Loss
If you consume a few cups of coffee a day, you will feel more like exercising and less like overeating. This is great, as being active is just what you need to boost weight loss. Coffee does slightly increase the metabolic rate leading to more calories being burned.
6. Coffee as an Antioxidant
Coffee is a strong source of antioxidants, showing more antioxidant activity than green tea. This gives it the ability to reduce oxidative stress, and it may slow down the aging process.
7. Coffee May Improve heart Health
The antioxidant properties of coffee help to keep the blood vessels clean, and reduce the risk of cholesterol blocking our arteries.
8. Coffee reduces Depression
Coffee lifts the mood, and moderates the risk of depression, and 3 or 4 cups a day will make you feel more optimistic.
9. Liver Disease
Coffee reduces the risk of liver disease by reducing inflammation and also provides some protection against liver cancer. A substance found in unfiltered coffee is responsible for liver benefits.
10. Cancer
The risk of contracting certain cancers is improved by the anti-inflammatory properties found in coffee. Both prostate and certain breast cancers respond to the anti-inflammatory properties of caffeine.
11. Normalizes Blood Sugar
Antioxidant properties found in caffeine help to normalize blood sugars. So a good gift for the coffee lover. especially for Mother’s day are an espresso machine coffee maker and some coffee. Many older people find that their blood sugar is starting to rise, and it can be helped back to normal by several cups of espresso coffee a day. This in turn helps to avoid other issues, that arise from becoming pre-diabetic.
12. Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes comes about when we gain weight and become insulin resistant, eating less and drinking more coffee can help to overcome this problem. We need to leave longer gaps between meals to allow our cells to rest and repair. and then the blood sugar levels in turn start to normalize, and we lose weight.
13. Increases Metabolism
If you have just been to a gym class, follow it up with a cup of coffee, this will increase your metabolism and enable you to burn calories for longer than you normally would..
14. Parkinson’s Disease
New research suggests that coffee may delay the onset of Parkinson’s disease. Caffeine is known as a non-selective antagonist, and lifelong caffeine use is known to be beneficial in warding off risks of Parkinson’s disease. For people already suffering from Parkinson’s disease regular coffee intake has been known to reduce tremors.
15. Social Interaction
Coffee makes us happier and able to relate to other people. Caffeine stimulates the production of dopamine an endorphin engendering a feeling of well-being.
16. Coffee to Stay Awake
Get your espresso machine going while studying for exams, as coffee will keep you awake for longer. You will only need to do this sometimes, but it certainly works when needed.
17. Coffee is Psychoactive
This means mind-altering, and will help us to work more quickly, quite different from merely staying awake, it will speed the process up a bit.
18. Inflammatory Arthritis
Drinking filtered coffee has been known to reduce inflammation in the joints of some people suffering from arthritis, and arthritic change. According to Harvard Medical School studies are continuing on compounds in coffee that protect against inflammation, and when the studies are completed there will be some very exciting results. At the moment, it is known to work in reducing certain inflammations, but it is how it works that is important.
19. Coffee may aid Longevity
People who drink up to eight cups of coffee a day appear to live for longer, probably from the antioxidant effect of so much coffee, and from lowering the risk of various diseases. Longevity studies are continuing and many experts say that coffee prolongs life when 6 or more cups a day are consumed.
20. Coffee may actually lower Cholesterol
Certain oils are found in coffee and one of them is cafestol which affects the body’s ability to regulate cholesterol. Oils may reduce bile acids and neutral sterols. Cholesterol puts us at risk of cardiovascular disease, and this research is interesting as some people appear not to get the same benefits from coffee as others.
Conclusion
The world is full of coffee lovers, and most of us can’t get enough of it. To find all these potential and amazing health benefits makes our daily cups of coffee so much more interesting. Of course, there are so many different ways of consuming coffee that it is hardly surprising that it is good for us, and if we are feeling tired and jaded it is the perfect ‘pick me up’ drink at any time of the day and night for everyone.