Is there such thing as too much coffee?
Food for thought: If you drink one cup of coffee per day for one year, you are consuming the fruit from around 10-12 coffee trees. I learned this while on a coffee farm tour in the infamous Kona coffee belt. The photo below is a pile of reject coffee cherries. A cherry is what they call the fruit from the tree, and typically there are two coffee beans in each coffee cherry.
“What happens if you drink coffee all the time? Nothing else, ever.”
I’m sure at some point we’ve all wondered this. And like most things that have to do with health and our bodies, the effects of drinking coffee are super unique to each of us, and the severity of effects range from person to person. It’s said that 400mg of caffeine per day for adults is “safe”, which is around three to five cups of coffee.
To start, let’s note that coffee is one of those things in nutrition with lots of research leading to opposing outcomes. Some experts believe coffee to be a dangerous, highly addictive drug, and others believe coffee to be a complete life saver, having multiple health benefits and preventing chronic disease. There’s also other concerns associated with coffee like quality, how it’s grown, and mold. I’m not going to go into these, but send me a message if you’re interested in discussing.
Since everything in life is so unique, I want to take a more health coach-y route to talking about drinking too much coffee…
The sneaky, full-circle side effects that can creep into your life from drinking a lot of coffee:
You have poor sleep quality. So, you drink lots of coffee in the morning and throughout your day to keep you alert. In turn, your body may be “tired but wired” when it comes time for bed, and you don’t sleep well. You wake up feeling sluggish the next day, and the cycle continues, and eventually your health may suffer from not getting adequate sleep.
You rely on coffee to help you go to the bathroom in the morning. Because of this, you might not be addressing certain nutrient-deficiencies or aware of your overall gut health and the actual root as of why you’re not able to have good BMs. This may eventually lead to your health declining without realizing because gut health is linked to literally everything.
You struggle with anxiety and irritability on a day-to-day basis but can’t for the life of you figure out the root after years and years of therapy. But, you don’t really feel negative physical effects from coffee, so you stick with your daily dose of six cups per day not realizing that may be why you are anxious and irritable.
There’s so many more examples similar to this, and looking deeply into daily disturbances combined with your relationship to coffee can be an incredible start to getting on track to healthier, sustainable habits.
If you feel great mentally and physically when you drink coffee and you ace your regular check-ups with your doctor, then maybe there’s no reason to cut it out or you’re drinking just the right amount for your body. Just stay hydrated and aim to drink 400mg of caffeine per day.
Quick note on potential negative physiological side effects of too much coffee: anxiety, panic, increased heart rate, high blood pressure, irritability, frequent urination, stomach issues, and sleep troubles have been named. Everyone metabolizes caffeine differently, so we all have unique reactions to it.
If you’re going to drink anything else throughout the day besides coffee, have it be water.
