Drink More Coffee!!

To be more specific, black coffee. I drink about 4-6 cups of black coffee each day and have learned what a true "super food" it is. So if you're addicted, like I am, don't fret. In fact, see below for all the reasons you should keep up your daily consumption.

Coffee is the single greatest consumable product. It’s responsible for the success of countless professionals. In fact, there’re at least a dozen scientific reasons why you should drink coffee every day. So be thankful for your addiction, and be sure not to ruin your beverage with sugar or cream.

1. It gives you a healthier liver.

Unlike drinking alcohol every day, drinking black coffee actually improves your liver. It’s been shown that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day (24+ oz., or two “Tall” cups from Starbucks) have as much as an 80% lower rate of cirrhosis of the liver. People who drink this same amount also have as much as a 40% lower rate of developing liver cancer.

2. It makes you smarter.

Caffeine is a psychoactive stimulant. When you drink coffee, the caffeine travels into your digestive system, then into your blood stream, and eventually to your brain (this takes roughly 30-45 minutes). When it hits your brain, it blocks one of your inhibitory neurotransmitters, Adenosine. This leads to an increase in other neurotransmitters (norepinephrine and dopamine), causing the neurons in your brain to fire more rapidly. All these chemicals and neurons conglomerate to boost your mood, energy, memory, response times, and general cognitive functioning.

3. It boosts your metabolism by 11%.

Want to lose a little weight? Not as active as you’d like to be? Drink coffee. As one of the few substances to ever be directly associated with burning fat, caffeine is found in nearly every fat burning or weight loss supplement. This doesn’t mean you should drink coffee instead of working out. You should probably still do both. But it can lead to a healthier, happier you.

4. It gives you important nutrients.

If you drink coffee, it is your single largest source of antioxidants. A few important nutrients include: Vitamins B2, B3, and B5, Manganese, Magnesium, and Potassium. Also, the human body absorbs more nutrients from coffee than it does from other popular sources of antioxidants like fruits and vegetables. You get more healthy bang for your buck with coffee than with anything else.

5. It reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Please note that you will not see these same effects if your cup is half coffee, half cream and sugar. You might actually be worse off in that case. But if you drink black coffee, then studies show an average of 7% drop in risk for diabetes for every daily cup (6 oz.) of coffee. Typically a coffee mug is 12 oz. So if you drink, say, two mugs of coffee in the morning, or 24 oz., then you’ll have a 28% lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes, compared to those who don’t drink coffee.

6. It lowers your risk of Parkinson’s.

No one wants to develop a neurodegenerative disease – particularly those who’ve seen a family member go through it. Parkinson’s is associated with a drop in dopamine. And since caffeine boosts dopamine levels in the brain, drinking black coffee reduces the chances of you developing Parkinson’s. Regular coffee drinkers have been shown to have a 32-60% reduced chance of developing this disease.

7. It fights against depression and generally makes you happier.

Remember, caffeine, which coffee is full of, increases dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is commonly known as the “pleasure chemical,” so it makes sense that consuming anything to increase dopamine will make you happier and keep you less depressed.

People who drink four or more cups of black coffee a day (24+ oz.) have a 20% lower chance of becoming depressed, and are over 50% less likely to commit suicide. Drinking coffee is literally a life saver, and something I wish more people would do more often for this specific reason. If you know someone struggling with depression, taking them out for a cup of coffee here and there can make all the difference.

8. It lowers your risk for several types of cancer.

You’re less likely to develop liver cancer (see above). It also works well to reduce your chances of colorectal cancer. People who drink 4-5 cups (24 – 30 oz.) of black coffee a day have a 15% lower risk of colorectal cancer, and a 40% lower risk of liver cancer. And since liver and colorectal are the cancers responsible for the 3rd and 4th most deaths in the world, this is rather impactful. Coffee also reduces your risk for skin cancer, particularly in women, by about 20%.

9. It reduces your risk for heart disease.

Those who drink coffee regularly have a 20% less risk for stroke, and generally have lower rates of heart disease. As caffeine increases your heart rate, coffee is actually good for cardiovascular health. Drinking a few cups of coffee a day has a similar effect to going for a walk, which keeps your heart healthier. Please do not use this as an excuse to not exercise, though. It doesn’t work quite that well.

10. It keeps your system cleansed.

Coffee’s a diuretic. This means drinking coffee will make you urinate more frequently than if you didn’t drink coffee. This is a good thing in most cases because it keeps your system cleansed. The human body often flushes out harmful bacteria and viruses this way, and drinking coffee enhances this natural process. Through this, black coffee drinkers become sick far less often.

11. It keeps you calm(er).

Even just smelling coffee makes you feel calmer. It actually changes the composition of a protein in the brain that’s associated with stress, specifically stress as a result of sleep deprivation. This is why we all learned early on that we feel so much better in the morning after a cup of bean juice.

12. It reduces your chances for dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Coffee generally enhances memory, thanks to caffeine’s effects on some of the brain’s neurotransmitters. By continually enhancing your memory over time, especially as you rack up years, you reduce your chances for dementia and Alzheimer’s. Regular coffee drinkers have actually shown to have as much as a 65% reduced risk of developing the world’s most common neurodegenerative disease.

So drink more coffee! :)