Believe it or not, caffeine is the world’s top recreational drug. Like any drug, there are side effects to its use, especially chronic habitual use. As a coffee lover, I would love to bury my head in the sand about what I am about to share, but I know you would want to be informed.  Here’s the scoop: 

• High doses of caffeine stimulate the release of stress hormones.  These are the hormones release during challenging situations, which is quite useful.  However, chronic release of these hormones is damaging to the body.  Here’s why:

 An abundance of stress hormones cause the body to age at an accelerated rate.  The older you are the more stress hormones you release in response to caffeine, so habitual coffee drinking ages the body at a more rapid rate than it would without the caffeine, and situation snowballs over the years.  

• Caffeine interferes with the absorption of minerals in the body, including calcium and magnesium, which are key minerals for bone health.  This can lead to lower bone density.

• Caffeine increases blood pressure.

 Caffeine certainly does have its benefits not in only how we feel, but some research suggests it may actually benefit the heart, so it certainly isn’t all bad.  Now you can make the decision as to how you will include it in your life.

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