Is coffee our friend or the enemy of fatigue?

The dream of a couple of extra hours per day led to the invention of a large number of external stimulants. Coffee is one of the most popular. But often another cup of coffee instead of the expected vigor brings drowsiness and fatigue, and a cup of americano, drunk during a meeting with friends, can deprive you of sleep and make you yawn all the next day. Does coffee really help to maintain vigor, and where does fatigue come from?

Where does fatigue come from?

The universal source of energy for every living organism is ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Synthesizing inside our cells and giving away energy, ATP is destroyed, and, after several stages, turns into adenosine. Adenosine is a fatigue hormone that helps us disconnect from work and fall asleep, “turning off” those neurons that cannot calm down and are still trying to think about how to do everything in 24 hours. The concentration of adenosine increases during the day and decreases at night when you sleep. The appearance of a significant amount of adenosine gives the body signals that it is tired and needs rest.

Scientists like to think about what happens if you disable adenosine. Will our forces become endless? Maybe if we learn to turn it off, we will be less tired? It turned out that adenosine is our important helper, a “fuse”, and its absence can lead to depletion of nerve cells, brain overstrain and insomnia.

Coffee vs. fatigue hormone

Caffeine is the same opponent, which blocks adenosine  for some time, relieves fatigue and gives the effect of a surge of strength. But blocking is not enough, because energy is also needed. By itself, coffee does not give energy, and then hidden resources of ATP, which the body spends with great reluctance, come for help.

A simple example: you are tired and go for coffee. In return, you get half an hour of energy, but during these half an hour you will then need to rest for a few hours.

★ It turns out by drinking coffee you only increase fatigue, and you will have to pay for quick energy with a long rest later. You not only do not win time for wakefulness, but also lose it.

How the habit is formed

Coffee lovers often say that they cannot wake up without coffee, and the morning without a favorite drink is not at all good. This is the addiction that is similar to tobacco addiction among smokers.

As we have already found out coffee by itself does not give energy, and new dose of coffee, only leads to accumulating fatigue. Often, to overcome the accumulated fatigue, the next morning you have to drink a double dose of coffee.

I know a lot of people who stopped drinking coffee and felt much better. They were not guided by scientific substantiation, they just once noticed that the usual method stops working, coffee gives less and less vitality, and their stomachs are not at all happy with complex coffee drinks with cow's milk, sugar and various fillings. However, coffee is not the worst stimulant, especially if you do not go beyond the norm.

Is one cup of coffee per day OK?

A safe dose of caffeine per day is 100-200 mg. But we must remember that caffeine is contained not only in a cup of freshly brewed coffee, but also in tea and chocolate.

Approximate amount of caffeine:

A cup of strong coffee - 100-150 mg of caffeine

A cup of strong tea - 30-50 mg

Dark chocolate (100 g) - 50–100 mg

Cola - about 15 mg

★ I also found out five ways to help minimize the use of coffee. 

Tannin, caffeine and antioxidants - which tea is better?

Black, green or white? Which tea is healthier and why? How does caffeine in tea differ from caffeine in coffee? What is so good about matcha tea? And what kind of herbal tea to drink to improve digestion and immunity? The answers to these and other questions about tea - in this post.

Green, black, white, oolong

Black, green, white tea and oolong tea are made from the camellia sinensis plant and they differ mainly in processing methods. In the process of fermentation, tea leaves are crushed and rolled, and during oxidation, their composition at the phytochemical level changes. White tea is made from buds and young leaves, green - from more mature ones. Both of these species belong to unfermented tea, rich in catechins - polyphenols, which have antioxidant properties. They strengthen the cardiovascular system, reduce the risks of tumor diseases and improve digestion.

The longer the fermentation process lasts, the less useful catechins in tea (for comparison: in green - 70 mg per 100 ml of brewed tea, in white - 42 mg, in oolong - 34 mg, in black tea - 9 mg). That is why green tea is considered to be more beneficial than black tea. Numerous studies show that regular consumption of green tea improves our metabolism, immunity, memory, and even prolongs life.

More benefits

The longer it takes to brew green tea, the more catechins it contains. Green tea brewed for 5 minutes contains 4 times (!) more catechins than exactly the same tea, brewed for 1 minute. It is also believed that by adding a little lemon to tea and holding it in the mouth for a few seconds before swallowing, we make tea catechins more bioactive and simplify their absorption by the body.

Polyphenols dissolve well only in hot water, which is why tea is not brewed with cold water. At the same time, the cooled tea leaves often grow cloudy - this is also a property of polyphenols. If the tea leaves do not become turbid when cooled, this means that the content of beneficial polyphenols in tea is very low.

A portion of caffeine

The caffeine content in tea is influenced by many factors: the variety of tea, the climate, the soil, as well as the degree of fermentation of the tea leaf and the method of its collection. Water temperature during brewing matters too. The hotter the water, the more actively the caffeine is released. You can find different information about how much caffeine tea contains. According to one data, black tea contains more caffeine than oolong or green tea. Others say that green tea is less fermented than black, so more caffeine is stored in it - about 70–80 mg per cup of tea.

Caffeine in tea acts more gently on the body than caffeine in coffee. Caffeine in tea is not present in its pure form, but in combination with tannin - together they form theine, which is absorbed into the blood  more slowly. It is believed that caffeine in tea does not develop addiction. But in any case, drinks containing caffeine are not recommended for children, as they have the fragile nervous system. Also, caffeine is not recommended for adults with high blood pressure, pregnant and lactating women (the amount of black and green tea should not exceed two cups per day).


★ Herbal tea, tea from spices and rooibos do not contain caffeine, but if you exclude caffeine, always carefully read the composition - often among the ingredients of herbal tea you can find green tea.

Crazy about the matcha

Matcha tea is known in Japan for 900 years. Buddhist monks drank a cup of this elixir before starting a meditation. Matcha tea is made from powdered leaves called tencha. These leaves are grown in the shade, hidden from the sun, which significantly increases the content of chlorophyll in them - this explains the emerald color of the matcha powder. Matcha leaves are hand-picked and steamed to avoid oxidation. The matcha has the highest content of antioxidants compared to other varieties of tea (three times more than green tea), energizes, despite the fact that it contains two times less caffeine than coffee, and strengthens the immune system.

Ayurveda

In Ayurveda, it is believed that the right combination of herbs contribute to the balance of doshas. Vatta types are recommended tea made from licorice, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, thyme, clove, eucalyptus. These herbs help to relax and improve digestion. For the Pita constitution: raspberry, burdock root, dandelion root, mint, hibiscus - they also improve digestion, make the mind clearer and help to cope with turbulent emotions. For the kapha type - ginger, peppermint, cinnamon, cardamom, thyme - these herbs improve mood and invigorate well.

Coffee: stimulates or hurts?

My last cup of coffee was accompanied by a strong heartbeat and trembling hands. It was both scary and very funny. Like I sit in a cafe, I drink coffee on a date, and my heart is pounding in my ears and everything falls out of my hands. When I stopped shaking, the desire to indulge in coffee disappeared along with that shiver. For several years I have not taken a single sip of this drink and have never missed it. I like its smell, and I would not give up the perfume with a coffee aroma, but as a drink, coffee is too strong and not a necessary stimulant for me.

With coffee, it is important to understand how this drink affects you and whether it is worth it. Coffee invigorates, stimulates, relieves drowsiness, and often rescues those with severely reduced pressure. True, this effect is short-lived, and when it disappears, we need a second and then a third cup. An addiction is gradually formed when, without morning coffee, the head is either sore or “does not work”.
Perhaps it would be better to sell coffee in pharmacies and to write out strictly according to the prescription because here the dosage and reaction of a particular organism are important. A surge of cheerfulness is often followed by irritability and increased anxiety, and in the long run, depletion of nerve cells and a problem with adrenal glands.
Like alcohol, coffee dehydrates and acidifies the body. Regular consumption of coffee prevents absorption and flushes out calcium, magnesium, potassium and other trace elements from the body. Dehydrating coffee can dull the feeling of thirst, so for every cup of coffee you should always drink one or two glasses of water. The love of coffee also does not fit well with the health of the stomach and can lead to gastritis.

But there is the other side. There are interviews with some centenarians who started every morning with a cup of coffee and got to their centenary. Coffee can also improve memory and concentration due to the influence of caffeine. In some cases, coffee works as an analgesic, relieving headaches. And in good coffee, there is a whole collection of antioxidants.

Coffee does not seem to be the worst of modern evils. I am sure that those who drink a cup of coffee every day, eat moderately and enjoy life, will live longer and more fun than those who suffer from loneliness and overeating every day, even if they fill their stomachs only healthy and natural products. There is a general picture - a state of balance or imbalance, in which a cup of coffee may not be the decisive factor.

Coffee substitute

Instead of coffee, I do morning exercises, yoga, or jumping on a trampoline to the music. Exercises improve blood circulation, there is a surge of vitality without any energy and further side effects. You become an energy drink for yourself. And you can recharge from yourself at any time.

My second replacement to a cup of coffee is daily freshly squeezed juice from vegetables and greens. Or a green smoothie, in which instead of caffeine chlorophyll is responsible for cheerfulness. Unlike coffee to juices and smoothies, there is no addiction, no breaking, headache or breakdown when you are left without a juicer or blender for a couple of days. No juice - ok, there is a smoothie. No, and smoothies - ok, you can just eat fresh fruit or vegetables.

If coffee has become the habit that you want to get rid of, this will also help:

• Hot water with the addition of lemon and ginger - it will invigorate and help improve digestion, but without caffeine effects.
• Freshly squeezed juices from vegetables and greens. Take celery, cucumbers, parsley, add an apple, carrot or ginger and you will have an excellent cocktail with a generous set of vitamins and minerals.
• Chicory drink is suitable for those who love coffee for its taste and aroma. Chicory is similar to coffee, but it does not contain a gram of caffeine. If you liked coffee with milk, add a little almond or hazelnut milk to the chicory drink.
• Green tea can help out of caffeine addiction. It contains caffeine, but in smaller quantities. Even better, choose herbal tea without caffeine, such as rooibos or a mix of spices and herbs.
• Hot cocoa drinks perfectly saturate and also stimulate, but much softer than coffee. Use natural cocoa, no added sugar or powdered milk.