How is coffee bad for me?

[Raguleader]

OK, so, I’m in the military, going through an academically-intensive tech school. Aside from that, I love coffee anyways, so here we have my question: I have been known to drink as many as eight or ten cups of coffee a day (where a standard coffee mug carries two cups of coffee). I’m aware that coffee dehydrates me, though not how soon the effect kicks in.

Anyhow, what are the benefits/detriments I’m dealing with here? Is this worse for me than my occasional cigarette, or my fondness for fried food (chicken nuggets, burrito, and onion rings almost every night from one of the on-base eateries that is open later than the others).

[Shagnasty]

Caffeine itself isn’t linked to many problems at all and the studies that do find slight problems often get reversed by studies that find small benefits. They main question is if you think it causes problems with you. Sleep problems or tremors may be a problem for some people. The main issues you will find are what you put into your coffee. 10 large coffees a day loaded up with creme and sugar would be a significant source of calories although you could drink it black for all I know.

[DrDeth]

Moderate use seems to have no significant problems in most dudes.

It likely isn’t actually dehydrating, but it’s not as hydrating as water or Gatorade, etc.

That being said, I wouldn’t call 20 cups a day “moderate”. :eek: Perhaps you could cut back a bit?

I moderate my caffiene consumption by “only during daylight/working hours”.

Also, greasy fast food is also mostly harmless - in moderation. Every night is not “in moderation”. Get some high fiber cereal and eat that instead.

[Raguleader]

Well, I defined “8-10 cups a day” as being two cups to a serving, ie: one coffee mug is two of those cups. I don’t actually drink 20 cups a day.

As for the greasy food, I don’t usually get hungry until close to 7PM, which is when all of the on-base dining facilities with their relatively healthy food close, and I’m left with the one place that stays open until 9PM and serves grease fare. (all of it quite tasteless unless you apply tobasco sauce)

[commasense]

I was a pretty heavy consumer of caffeine for many years: only one cup of coffee each morning, but 20-32 ounces of cola with other meals. I can identify no problems that arose directly from that level of consumption: no sleep problems or any thing like that.

The problems I had arose from not consuming caffeine. As I wrote in another recent thread:

@me

It took me a while to figure out the weird headaches I was occasionally having, but I was helped by the fact that they weren’t quite random: they were more frequent on the weekends. Eventually it occurred to me that I often didn’t have a morning cup of coffee on Saturdays or Sundays, but I invariably started the day that way on work days.

A little research turned up the fact that caffeine withdrawal is physiologically identical to migraine. My headaches they were usually fairly mild, not the debilitating experiences usually associated with the word “migraine,” but they did have an unpleasant sweaty, queasy feeling different from ordinary headaches. Aspirin and Ibuprofin had no effect.

Since then I’ve been weaning myself off caffeine in all forms (except chocolate). The good news is that I’ve learned to recognize the symptoms of a coming caffeine headache early enough to take preventive measures: an Excedrin equivalent. Yes, it contains caffeine, but I’d prefer to feed my addiction slightly than spend an hour or two with one of these damn headaches.

I now go whole days with no caffeine (except chocolate) and no headaches. I start the day with decaf coffee and occasionally have caffeinated sodas with lunch or dinner. I find I don’t really need the kick I got from caffeine, which, like any addiction, became less effective over time. And I definitely don’t miss those damn headaches.

In short, if you can cut back on caffeine without too much trouble, why not? I drink a Crystal Light-like diet lemonade instead of cola at many meals and now drink decaf coffee every morning instead of caffeinated.

And if you really need your morning coffee to wake you up, you’d probably be better off in the long run by trying to get more sleep than by upping your caffeine intake. I’ve been able to do that, too.