Many of us love a good cup of Joe in the morning. It wakes us up, helps us to feel alert, and it’s an essential part of our getting ready for the day routine.
But Joe gets a bad rap from many people because of its apparently unhealthy properties. Whether critics are snapping at the fact that it turns your teeth yellow, or whether they’re going gung-ho for its relation to an increased heartbeat, the naysayers simply can’t stop having a go at our Joe.
But the thing is, coffee actually has numerous health benefits too. So let’s take a look at 10 surprising health benefits of coffee that you need to know all about.
1. Caffeine Improves Your Circulation
If you drink one or two cups of coffee a day, you could see a 20-30% boost in capillary blood flow. This enhanced blood circulation means that your body’s tissues receive more oxygen, and you might just see a huge range of benefits. For example, improved circulation means that physical performance comes easier.
So if you’re the kind who wants to work out more, why not add coffee to your diet?
2. Coffee Improves Your Brain Function
Coffee is already well known for encouraging our brains to create more important chemicals that help us learn, but did you know that it is also particularly adept at blocking bad chemicals that slow down the learning process?
Yup, baddies such as Adenosine are kept at bay by Joe, with the result being that positive neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and norepinephrine are given the chance to shine. This, in turn, means our neurons are allowed to work uninhibited, improving our overall cognitive function.
3. Coffee Can Banish The Blues
Another one of great health benefits of coffee is that it can banish the blues. Depression is a debilitating illness, and more awareness is finally being raised about its effects on sufferers. To help reduce the risk of depression, you could do something as simple, as drinking coffee.
Drinking one or two cups a day could cut down your risk by a whopping 20%, with researchers citing caffeine’s relationship with the production of happy hormones, such as serotonin and dopamine, being the primary reason.
4. Coffee Can Help You Lose Weight
Next one of fabulous health benefits of coffee is that it can help you lose weight. Earlier, we mentioned how coffee can improve your circulation, which in turn means that you are able to work out more strenuously and for longer.
At the same time, coffee helps you to burn more calories and it can boost your metabolism by up to 20%. All of this great stuff combined means that a few cups of coffee a day can help you to lose weight and look thinner ASAP.
5. Coffee Is Rich In Vitamins
Another one of great health benefits of coffee is that it contains a decent amount of minerals and vitamins. Coffee is basically a cocktail of vitamins. It is rich in riboflavin (Vitamin B2), pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5), potassium, magnesium, manganese and niacin (B3), thiamine (B1) and is therefore loaded with enough antioxidants to keep your body nicely ticking over. Just one or two cups a day, and you’ll be overloaded with vitamins!
6. Just The Smell Can Help You De-Stress
Everyone is going to get stressed at some point or another, and most of us will be stressed at some point this week. In an article we shared recently, there are some really simple but effective ways to de-stress and beat anxiety, and one of these is the smell of coffee.
According to scientists, just the smell of caffeine can cause the brain protein that creates stress to decrease. As well as this, we also think that the smell of something as warm, familiar, comforting and as exotic as coffee takes you to a nice, happy and tranquil place. So wake up and smell the coffee!
7. Coffee Can Help You Live Longer
According to a study, another one of fabulous health benefits of coffee is that drinking it can help you live longer. The study centred around 400,000 participants and concluded that if you drink just one cup of Joe per day, you reduce your risk of death by 6%.
If that doesn’t sound so great, why not drink two to three cups per day and cut the risk by 10%?
Still scoffing into your orange juice? Well, drink four to five cups a day and reduce your risk by 12%! Just kidding! Moderation is the KEY!
8. Coffee Can Reduce Pain
Many of us go through pain during a day at work. Whether our back is aching thanks to sitting in an office chair all day, or whether our arms are straining under lots of heavy lifting, pain is something that befalls many of us.
An easy way to reduce pain is to drink a cup of coffee. A quick coffee break really can rejuvenate you and make you feel fresh, pain-free and re-invigorated.
9. Coffee Can Cut The Risk Of Skin Cancer
Perhaps one of the most surprising health benefits of coffee is that it can reduce the risk of skin cancer. According to a study carried out by Jiali Han, associate professor at Harvard, coffee reduces the risk of developing basal cell carcinoma, which is actually the most popular form of skin cancer.
10. Coffee Makes You Feel More Awake
This one is perhaps the most obvious health benefit of coffee, though some folk continue to drink it for its taste without realising how much of an energy booster coffee really is. For this reason, they drink it just before bed!
But coffee is traditionally the morning drink of choice by people around the world, as its stimulating effects help us to feel more alert and responsive. If we weren’t in the mood for another drab, exhaustive day at the office, we certainly will be after our cup of Joe!
Coffee has many other health benefits that are worth mentioning. It reduces the risk of diabetes, cuts down the chance of Parkinson’s disease, and it can simply make you feel happier in general. Of course, coffee should only be drank in moderation. Too much coffee can lead to anxiety and increased heart rates. So be safe and enjoy your cup of Joe!
Do you know other health benefits of coffee?
Stay happy and healthy!
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Source: Beauty and Tips