The Basic Facts: Caffeine 101
When my afternoon stupor descends, I think the only benefit of a caffeinated beverage is to wake me up. However, the caffeine in a single cup of coffee per day may provide additional benefits.
Health Benefits of Caffeine
Cognitive Functioning
Several studies show caffeine supplementation may increase alertness, reaction time, and accuracy. One study used math quizzes and logical reasoning tasks as performance markers and found a 150 mg caffeine supplement may provide significant improvement in cognitive function.
Helps Relieve Pain
One benefit of caffeine is its anti-inflammatory properties which help constrict blood vessels. In a clinical review researchers found when you consume caffeine, you may increase acetaminophen’s effectiveness by up to forty percent. Always talk to your doctor about the safety of using a supplement at the same time as prescribed or over the counter medications.
Endurance and Strength Enhancement
Caffeine may provide a modest effect on physical endurance by aiding in the oxidization of fat stores when used in the 3-6 mg per kg body weight range. For a 180-pound individual, that equates to 243-487 mg of caffeine. If the body can burn fat and glycogen together during exercise, the time to complete muscle exhaustion is increased.
A meta-analysis found caffeine helped improve upper body strength and power. Another study showed an eight percent increase in peak anaerobic power and a six percent increase in mean anaerobic power with caffeine supplementation.
Weight Loss
Caffeine helps burn fat by increasing the resting metabolic rate. One study found 100 mg of caffeine helped increase the metabolic rate for two and a half hours by three to four percent. Researchers found consuming 100 mg of caffeine every two hours or six cups of coffee a day helped burn up to 150 calories.
May Help Reduce Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke, and Type II Diabetes
Initial caffeine use may spike blood pressure. However, with regular consumption, this tends to subside. Researchers found no clinical backup for the prominent hypothesis regarding regular caffeine consumption increases the risk of heart disease.
One meta-analysis found a slight inverse relationship between the risk of stroke and moderate coffee use. They found as coffee consumption went up, the risk of stroke went down slightly.
Regular coffee drinkers may be reducing their risk of Type II Diabetes. The risk of Type II Diabetes appears to be decreased by fourteen percent for every 200 mg per day of caffeine consumed. These results were stronger for men than women.
How Caffeine works?
The best way to understand how caffeine works is to understand adenosine. As an inhibitory neurotransmitter, adenosine sedates and relaxes the brain to promote sleep.
Caffeine wakes up the brain by interrupting adenosine binding. This interruption sets of a chain reaction and impacts the acetylcholine, adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine systems and cycles. The time of caffeine ingestion to maximum blood serum concentration is forty-five minutes to an hour. Total caffeine benefits can last up to six hours.
Acetylcholine transmits messages in the central and peripheral nervous systems by stimulating muscle contraction. In the brain, acetylcholine is important for cognition and memory recall. People with Alzheimer’s disease have extremely low levels of acetylcholine.
Adrenaline is the fight or flight hormone. Adrenaline makes the body alert and ready to act to perceived danger. Adrenaline increases blood flow to muscles while releasing glucose into the bloodstream.
Serotonin is often called the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter. It regulates mood and memory. Serotonin also plays a role in sleep, digestion, sexual function, blood clotting, and bone density.
Dopamine is associated with feeling pleasure by boosting mood. It transmits messages between nerves and helps a person focus, engage, and plan.
Safe Dosage Levels
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), healthy individuals can consume up to 400 mg a day of caffeine without dangerous side-effects. Since the relationship between fetal growth and caffeine consumption is undetermined, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes it is a good idea for pregnant women to keep caffeine consumption at less than 200 mg a day.
Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine
Developing a tolerance to caffeine is the biggest risk of moderate daily caffeine consumption. Once a tolerance is developed, higher doses of caffeine are required to achieve the same possible mental and physical performance benefits. A person can reset their caffeine tolerance by going off all caffeine-laced products for a month.
If you need to reset your caffeine tolerance, caffeine withdrawal symptoms will begin within twelve to twenty-four hours. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and include drowsiness, irritability, headache, and lack of concentration.
The FDA lists jitters, anxiousness, headaches, insomnia, nausea, fast heart rate, and feeling unhappy as signs of consuming too much caffeine.
Health Conditions that should Avoid or Limit Caffeine
You should avoid or limit caffeine intake if you deal with:
A heart condition, called arrhythmia, that causes heart rhythm irregularities. In arrhythmia, the heart feels like it flutters or races.
High anxiety. Caffeine may increase cortisol levels. Sustained high levels of cortisol may worsen anxiety and mood swings.
What contains Caffeine?
Coffee beans, green tea, and cocoa beans all contain natural caffeine. Energy drinks and caffeinated soft drinks often contain synthetic caffeine. Regardless if your favorite caffeinated beverage contains natural or synthetic caffeine, the caffeine structure is the same and provides the same health and performance benefits.
The amount of caffeine in all the various beverage choices varies widely. The Center for Science in the Public Interest lists the associated caffeine content for all caffeinate beverage options in one convenient web page.
The Convenience and Versatility of Teacher Power’s Energy Drink
Along with the cost, other factors to consider in your caffeine beverage choices are the processed chemicals, artificial sweeteners, calories, and added sugars. We invite you to compare Teacher Power Energy Drink to Starbucks’ coffee and other energy drinks. You will find Teacher Power’s formula contains 14 ingredients with zero calories in three simple flavors.
Teacher Power energy drink provides 100 mg of caffeine per serving along with a full array of B Vitamins to naturally help convert food into fuel to power your day.
We know regular caffeine use can result in caffeine tolerance. We suggest staggering caffeine consumption to disrupt tolerance buildup with our energy drink powder mix. With Teacher Power Energy Drink powder mix, you decide how much caffeine you really need to power your morning or afternoon. A full scoop contains 100 mg. A half scoop, 50 mg.
Discover the advantages, convenience, and versatility of Teacher Power Energy Drink by visiting our website or purchasing on Amazon.com.
Article by Miss Jae
The content of Teacher Power’s website is for information only, not advice or guarantee of outcome. Information is gathered and shared from reputable sources; however, Teacher Power is not responsible for errors or omissions in reporting or explanation. No individuals, including those taking Teacher Power products, should use the information, resources or tools contained within to self-diagnosis or self-treat any health-related condition. Teacher Power gives no assurance or warranty regarding the accuracy, timeliness or applicability of the content.
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