Caffeine - Are you an addict? (Part 1)

As new year has begun, many people have set their goals and new year's resolution for 2016. Some might set sights on weight loss, for others, could be changing unhealthy habits and lifestyle. As most people are more interested in goals which are physically visible, how many pay attention to smaller lifestyle details which may impact their transformation and health or even fitness goals? Things such as regular or daily stimulants which are robbing your vitality, energy, nutrient reserves and even suppressing the immune system. 

Today, we will discuss about common stimulants which are very popular amongst most people at present day. The ones in particular are coffee, soft drinks (sugars) and even alcohol. Let's just take United States for example, Americans consume an average of 3.5 cups of coffee per day, and close to 300 cans of soft drinks per year. Coffee, is the most popular beverage in the world, and soft drinks come very close second. Reason? These 2 substances are one of the most potent stimulants and contain very addictive properties which trigger dopamine in the brain and tricked the body into producing 'fake' energy boost. 

As 80% of Americans drink about 3-5 cups of coffee daily, most people are not aware of what's going on inside the body. As I've blogged about coffee before, it is important to realize that this popular beans are heavily contaminated with pesticides and chemicals during farming and harvesting. It is in fact one of the most pesticides laden crops/substances in the world, apart from another stimulant cigarette. Depending on the quality of the beans, commercial coffee beans are high in mold, which contain mycotoxins. Mycotoxins have been shown in studies to cause cancer and the ability to inhibit peristalsis in the GI tract is devastating to overall digestive and immune health. 

Let's take an average individual who 'loves' coffee. When I asked most people, they admitted that they love and enjoy coffee, but they do not know why they are so dependent on this beverage on daily basis. "Are you addicted to coffee?" Almost all of them replied 'NO". In this post, we will determine if you are an addict to these substances. In certain cases, some people may be addicted and dependent on more then one stimulant on daily basis. If you want to find out how well your body can function without any stimulatory substances, keep reading and you will find out in the end of this post. 

Let's focus on coffee for now. As most people do not know why drinking coffee is mandatory in the morning and throughout the day, some may argue that this coffee beans have its health benefits such as antioxidants, but for majority drinkers, all they know is they need it to get them up and running in the morning, and provide energy during the day while at work.The same apply with consuming breads, where most people just don't know why they can't stop eating wheat based foods. 

For some people, coffee might seemed to be their energy provider, but most people don't realize that it DO NOT provide raw energy in the body. In fact, it borrowed energy and stress hormones which are produced from the adrenal glands.An average cup of coffee has about 100mg of caffeine. Caffeine does not produce or give energy to the body, but it steal and produce 'fake' energy which mimic as tension which one feel in the body.  For some people, they feel the tension in the muscles after consumption of coffee and others may feel other side effects such as palpitation and breathing difficulties. Caffeine makes the body move when it doesn't want to. 

Coffee, contain more then 700 substances and chemicals in the beans itself. As the most heavily sprayed crop in the world, coffee has a half life affect to the body. Most coffee drinkers are fast in absorption, but slow in detoxing the caffeine and other substances in the beverage itself. Assuming you consume coffee at 9am in the morning, it will require approximately 6-8 hours to lower the cortisol stress level down to 50% as the body trying to detox the caffeine out from the system. Meaning, by 3-5pm, the first cup of coffee still has the effect of production of cortisol stress hormone at half potency by that time. Imagine if you hit another cup after lunch from your favorite coffee shop. How would your adrenals handle it if this continue chronically on regular basis for months or even years? How would the quality of sleep be for that night? Most people are wired and tired, and unable to enjoy deep REM sleep most nights. But again, depending on different individuals, some may handle and metabolize caffeine better then the other. Any dose of more then 100mg of caffeine per consumption per day will likely to trigger sleep problems at night.

Please take note that pharmaceutical drugs such as birth control pills and other common medications interfere with the ability and efficiency of detoxing caffeine from the body. It is also important to know that caffeine and toxins passed through the placenta and breast milk. For pregnant women or breast feeding mothers, this would be an important piece of information as fetus has no ability to detox caffeine and toxins. Also, caffeine half life and production of cortisol in a fetus or baby is longer then adults. 

Caffeine Consumption/Dependant Scale: Coffee, Soft drinks or any caffeinated drinks

100-300mg - Danger zone, sleep issues ( not necessary insomnia )

400-600mg - Addiction, likely hood of reoccurance ulcers, fibrocystic breasts

700- 900mg - Addiction, energy issues

If any of you falls between 400mg or more on daily basis, you are likely an addict to coffee and dependant on caffeine to get your day going. I know some people might say "I just have a cup of coffee a day". That may be alright for most people, but when you look at the cup size and strength level of the coffee, the caffeine dose may well be over 400-500 mg in that one serving. There are people would love coffee due to the flavor and smell. That may be fine if there are no withdrawal symptoms when he or she stops drinking coffee for couple of days. 

I have clients who mentioned that sleeping hours are almost the same as couple years back before the 'addiction' kicks in. But, most of them noticed the quality of sleep and immunity decline overtime. The quality of mood also diminishes as consumption of coffee prolonged, although coffee may triggers dopamine production upon ingestion, but if this is ongoing chronically for long term, your body will be depleted of this hormone. If one is depleted of dopamine, he or she will lose the quality of mood and feeling happy. It is as powerful, if not more potent then serotonin when comes to mood and being happy. 

For most people, they claimed that they feel fine and great when they have their caffeine fix on daily basis. But when you take away coffee or even soft drinks, they feel lousy and unable to function mentally and physically. No more blood sugar triggers, no dopamine production. As we live in the digital social world, majority of us are nightcrawlers. Almost everyone now sleep after 12 midnight. If you add poor sleep cycle with cups of coffee during the day, you will be experiencing brain fog and poor energy fluctuations throughput the day. No deep sleep, you will feel unrested and tired the next morning, doesn't matter how many hours you slept. When one is sleep deprived or not getting regular deep quality sleep, the body loses the capacity to heal itself. 

Another thing which happen in the body is depletion of vital minerals in the body. You will lose minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium, B-Vitamins, calcium, sodium, zinc, etc. Coffee and caffeine create this sensation of providing false energy in the body, but it rob the host of nutrients which needed for actual energy production. One of primary reason for anemic patients are problems with low level of iron in the body, and regular coffee consumption will make it worst or could be the main contributor to that disease. Melatonin, which is a repair hormone only increases when one sleep especially during proper circadian cycle. It is also a potent antioxidant which repair and restore the body for healing purpose. It is also important to realize that there is approximately 60% reduced blood flood to the neck and head musculature from the effect of caffeine. It also increase blood pressure in the brain as well. 

For someone who is concern about posture, regular consumption of caffeinated drinks can aggravate the poorly aligned posture due to reduced blood flow and tension build in the muscles area. You may perform a test of standing against the wall. If your tailbone, scapulars and head are not able to touch the wall without trying to force the posture, its a basic assessment for postural alignment.

Meanwhile, let's have a quick look at the caffeine content table for some of the most popular drinks which create false energy in the body. As you can see, it only require one Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Venti) to hit the 400mg dose of caffeine. So much for just one cup of coffee? Stay tuned for next post which I will focus on other caffeinated beverages such as soft drinks.

Content table derived from healthyprotocols.com