That cup of coffee, that morning pick me up, the social cup or just an excuse for a break at work.
You feel the buzz and get addicted to that quick hit, the initial sensation of alertness then can spiral into anxiety, high blood pressure and high then low emotions.
What exactly is it doing to your system?
That buzz, the pick me up.. is just suppressing your natural fatigue and sluggishness from caffeine withdraws, lack of sleep, health issues, or vitamin deficiencies.
Drinking caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the source of the “fight or flight” response, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favour of a faster response. This is great when a tiger is chasing you, but not so great when you’re responding to a work email. When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyper-aroused state, your emotions overrun your behaviour.
Irritability and anxiety are the most commonly seen emotional effects of caffeine, but caffeine enables all of your emotions to take charge.
The negative effects of a caffeine-generated adrenaline surge are not just behavioural. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that large doses of caffeine raise blood pressure, stimulate the heart, and produce rapid shallow breathing, which deprives the brain of the oxygen needed to keep your thinking calm and rational.
Caffeine Effects you physically, emotionally, mentally and spirituality.
We already live in a hyper stimulative, stressful world. our bodies are in the fight and flight mode 80%* of the time, producing Adrenaline and reaping havoc on our bodies health. We don’t need coffee to add to the stress in our lives and in our bodies. Physically when Adrenaline is released, whether its stress at work, rushing around to get the kids ready or that cup of coffee, our digestion is switched off or rapidly excelled causing lack of nutrients being absorbed.
Coffee and hormone imbalances, when adrenaline and a hormone called cortisol are produced to keep you running from the tiger (or get ready for work, or reply to that stressful work email) these stress hormones then steal your sex hormone Progesterone, the hormone in-charge of fertility, ovulation and keeping Oestrogen in-check so that one doesn’t suffer from PMS and later on Menopause issues.
Coffee also effects the Nervous system
the nervous system is the coldest part of the bodily systems, cold and moist. Coffee effects the nervous system by heating it, drying it and speeding it up. the effects of this can be see by shakes, Headaches, migraines and hair loss.
Coffee and sleep.
Caffeine has been studied and proven that it stays in your system for 24hrs,
It has a six-hour half-life, which means it takes a full twenty-four hours to work its way out of your system. Have a cup of at eight a.m., and you’ll still have 25% of the caffeine in your body at eight p.m. Anything you drink after noon will still be at 50% strength at bedtime. Any caffeine in your bloodstream makes it harder to fall asleep.
Caffeine in your system during sleep also effects your capability to reach the deep restful state of sleep increasing the RMS period of sleep with vivid dreams and movements through the night, leaving you feeling tired and sluggish the next morning and more likely to grab another cup of coffee. The snow-ball effect….
So its not all doom and gloom for you coffee lovers.. we have some alternatives!!
Morning Detox Lemon water, a warm drink first thing in the morning.. is that what your addicted to? if you have a warm lemon water of a morning which is detoxing to the body and of-course detoxing for the liver which coffee is actually putting pressure on the liver. The warm lemon water will leave you feeling invigorated, fresh and will assist in elimination.1/4 of a fresh lemon, 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of honey.First i add 2/3 of boiling water with the grated ginger then top the rest up with cold water and squeeze the lemon and add the honey. stir & enjoy. (Please note that honey and lemon are affected by high heats so it is important to add them after the cold water is added..)Dandelion Root tea/coffee, Medicinally rich by detoxing for the liver and blood aiding hypoglycemia and High blood pressure.. taste like coffee and available as a late or cappuccino at your nearest health aware coffee shop or make your own….
Dandelion Root Coffee
3 cups water2 cups of milk2 tablespoons ground roasted dandelion root2 tablespoons ground roasted chicory root1 cinnamon stick
Place water, dandelion root, chicory root and cinnamon stick in a pot
Bring to a boil, add desired amount of milk (1/2 or 1/4) then reduce heat to a simmer for 5 minutes
Pour coffee through a small mesh strainer into cups or a thermos for the day.
Serves 2-4
Rooibos Chai Tea A delicious caffeine free option, Rooibos has 50 times more antioxidants then green tea, it helps reduce stress and tension in the body therefor assisting with high-blood pressure, headaches and migraines. Organic Rooibos chai tea available for purchase here SLEEP go to bed early and get up early. It is advised to be asleep by 10pm and awake by 6am to be in-sync with natures rhythms. you will wake up free rested and fresh for the day, this might take a week or so to kick the caffeine cravings and withdraws from your system but with the assistance of good early sleep and warm lemon water of a morning you will feel like a new person running on your own bodies natural supply of energy.
Keep Hydrated Drinking warm herbal teas or warm water with lemon through the day gives you less opportunity to crave coffee.
