Emotional disorders and panic attacks are now talked about openly and without shame: girlfriends honestly talk about the last time they went to a psychotherapist and what antidepressants they were prescribed. All networks write about how important it is, first of all, to monitor your emotional state, because if everything is not okay with it, then often health problems are added to this. I have never been one of the depressed people - I always quickly switched after some failures and did not concentrate on failures. Of course, there were sadder times and happier ones, but overall my life has always been stable - as has my mood. But in the last couple of months everything has changed.
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You shouldn't drink coffee right after you wake up.
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When you wake up, your body begins to produce the hormone cortisol. It gives you energy and ensures attention. Coffee interferes with the process of cortisol production. Therefore, you should drink coffee not when you wake up, but after waiting for some time - for example, when you get to work. Then a cup of drink will be extremely useful for further ensuring vigor.
Emotional rollercoaster
Even valerian and afobazole, eaten in one gulp, did not calm nervous shortness of breath in the office - previously they always helped out at the most critical moments. The emotional background has turned into a roller coaster: one hour I am very active, the next I don’t want to do anything and mindlessly wander through links on the Internet. The closer the end of the day is, the faster these slides change the amplitude of rise and fall and at the end line up in a straight line - an extremely unpleasant nervous state when you want to cry from literally everything. Someone unsuccessfully placed a cart in front of you in the store, blocking the path to the refrigerator - hysterical. The taxi driver took a route that was not his favorite - a tragedy. The notifications on the phone are noisy again - information garbage. For almost a month I got home, lay down on the bed and didn’t get up: my brain was bursting with the number of plans I wanted to implement, but in the end I couldn’t choose one thing and waited until the nervous overstrain relieved me. At the same time, it cannot be said that there were more tasks at work or that there was a stressful period - in general, nothing changed. But when I left the office, I almost always wanted to cry. Just like that and for no reason. As a moderately experienced beauty editor who has read and written more than one thousand texts about self-care - including taking care of your emotional state - I began to look for a problem in my lifestyle. And I found it - in a cup of coffee.
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You may be surprised and think that this is just my fantasy: everyone drinks coffee all the time, and if this were really the reason, my emotional problems would have started much earlier. But the thing is, until this summer, I had never drank more than one cup a month. In our family, it was not customary to start the morning with coffee - most often it simply wasn’t available in the house. I learned that many people are addicted to this drink when I was already an adult. The urge to repeat after others did not appear then - I never really liked the taste of strong coffee. And in general, it made me nauseous more often than it invigorated me. However, office work from nine to six made its own adjustments. I resisted for a very long time, but by the end of May I noticed that thanks to a cup of coffee after lunch, it was much easier to give up snacks and “birthday” pizza, which appears on our editorial table with enviable regularity. Thanks to coffee, my body dried out: the fat that I didn’t really like was partially gone. So a cup of drink after lunch turned into a ritual - it gave me energy and helped me survive until dinner without an afternoon snack. Slowly, I got hooked on coffee—my mornings began to start with it. On particularly difficult days, I drank three cups. Baby talk, you say. But it turned out that such a dose for my height of 153 centimeters was quite enough to make me go a little crazy.
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Iced coffee costs more
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Iced coffee-based drinks are more expensive than hot coffee around the world - and all because they are more difficult to prepare correctly. In addition, iced coffee requires a plastic cup and a straw - otherwise its flavor will not develop as it should. So, if you want to drink coffee quickly and inexpensively, choose hot!
What scientific research says
If not caffeine completely, then at least it was decided to do away with coffee. And of course, first of all, I started reading various studies about the relationship between caffeine and our emotional state. The results of the hunt for information turned out to be very interesting.
Cambridge concluded back in 2005 that caffeine can aggravate nervous conditions, and its excessive consumption causes symptoms very similar to many serious mental disorders. However, most doctors don’t even ask whether you drink coffee or not when they make serious diagnoses. Of course, caffeine does not have this effect on everyone: if you have problems with your emotional state, you may be at risk. People with panic disorders and social phobia are especially sensitive to this substance; caffeine can cause panic attacks in them.
“In my practice, the issue of the amount of coffee is discussed with almost every patient, since for many diseases its consumption needs to be reduced. This is an exacerbation of gastritis, peptic ulcer, heartburn. But still, even in such cases, we allow up to two cups a day,” says Elena Volodkina, a gastroenterologist and nutritionist at the Aging Control clinic. “Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, and if a patient has a predisposition to irritability, is tense and anxious, then caffeine may have a negative effect on them and worsen these symptoms.”
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In order to fully understand this issue and not be unfounded, I talked with a psychiatrist at the First Moscow State Medical University. I. M. Sechenov Dmitry Sergeevich Petelin.
Not quite the standard perception of caffeine - a disease? “On the territory of the Russian Federation, as in most countries of the world, the so-called international classification of diseases, tenth revision, is used. It lists all existing diseases and conditions that can be diagnosed to a person at an appointment. This list includes a section on “mental and behavioral disorders associated with coffee consumption.” True, there it is not highlighted separately, but is listed along with other stimulants - drugs that invigorate or increase the level of activity. That is, in theory such a diagnosis exists, but in practice it is made quite rarely. It must be emphasized that under this “heading” there is a whole range of conditions that can be identified. Among them are acute intoxication with large amounts of coffee, dependence on drinking the drink, and so on.”
What is the daily caffeine intake? “There is a recommendation of 400 milligrams. This is equivalent to about five standard espressos, two half-liter cans of energy drinks, about two and a half Starbucks coffee drinks, or ten 0.33-milliliter cans of Coca-Cola. It should be immediately added that many people prefer to drink coffee that they brew themselves or instant coffee. This makes it difficult to measure how much caffeine is in each cup.”
Is it possible to speed up the elimination of caffeine by the body? "More likely no than yes. The fact is that caffeine is processed in the liver by a set of compounds that do not have any biological activity, and is then excreted by the kidneys. The weakening of the effect of caffeine depends on the speed at which the liver processes it; accelerating this process is problematic. As a rule, within four to five hours the concentration of caffeine in the blood is reduced by half. At the same time, the duration of caffeine processing depends on many factors acting on the liver. It may vary from one person to another on different days. For example, if a person smokes and has consumed a large amount of nicotine during the day, then the liver’s ability to process caffeine increases and, accordingly, it will be eliminated from the body faster, which will not be observed after a few days. But in no way am I advocating smoking to speed up the processing of caffeine.”
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Is there a connection between mental disorders and caffeine consumption? “There is a connection between caffeine and mental disorders. For example, such a well-known disease as schizophrenia can be divided into positive and negative. Positive symptoms are psychosis, hallucinations (when a person hears something that is not there, he has delusional ideas that someone is stalking him). Negative symptoms - emotional isolation, intellectual impairment. Caffeine, as a mild, mild stimulant, can affect both symptoms. That is, in some situations, in predisposed people, taking large amounts of caffeine can unmask positive symptoms. The person was already preparing for the onset of schizophrenia, he had such a genetic risk, everything came together, and against the background of a large amount of coffee, the nervous system was further stimulated - a response occurred in the form of psychosis. It’s incorrect to say that caffeine caused the disease, but it did provoke it.”
Does this mean everyone should give up coffee? “In all such situations, the problem is not coffee, not caffeine, but primarily the human condition. If he is experiencing emotional stress, then caffeine can increase unpleasant symptoms. And indeed, there are people for whom, for medical reasons, drinking large quantities of coffee or drinking coffee at all may not be recommended due to health risks. This is not applicable to practically healthy people. Let's just say that severe anxiety while drinking coffee may indicate the presence of an early undiagnosed anxiety disorder. But only a doctor can figure out each specific case based on a detailed examination. It is impossible to give general recommendations for such a person.”
The most expensive coffee in the world is made from elephant poop
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Black Ivory coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world. A cup of this drink costs about $50. This coffee is made from beans passed through the digestive tract of an elephant. Simply put, semi-digested grains are extracted from elephant poop, washed and further processed. No need to be scared! According to reviews from those who have tried it, the drink is indeed very tasty!
The effect of coffee on the brain's ability to learn and remember
Caffeine usually does not directly affect our productivity, memory speed, or task completion. However, it does seem to improve memory performance when we are tired.
- Some studies have found that caffeine may enhance short-term memory.
- The effects of caffeine on long-term memory are still controversial, but one small study found that caffeine may improve long-term memory when consumed after learning. When subjects took a caffeine tablet after studying a series of images, their ability to recognize the images was enhanced 24 hours later. Caffeine also made these memories more resistant to forgetting compared to the placebo group.
- In healthy people, caffeine has been reported to prevent cognitive decline.
Some studies also show that caffeine improves learning ability by 10%.
4 more products for peace of mind
Is it possible to cope with depression by adjusting your diet? Nutritionists say that, in addition to coffee, there is a large list of products that help with depressed mood. How do they work? They stimulate the production of endorphins - those hormones that correspond to feelings of happiness and joy (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine - they all belong to these). The most effective in this regard:
- Chocolate. Cocoa provokes the production of endorphins much better than caffeine. With all this - without any negative consequences. Chocolate also does not increase stress and anxiety levels.
- Fish. And the fatter it is, the better. Fish oil contains omega-3 acids, which act as a powerful antidepressant. Omega-3 is also found in greens and walnuts (in the bitter skin of the kernels).
- Turmeric. The curcumin found in it provokes neurogenesis (the division of nerve cells and their regeneration), but the activity of the brain centers specifically responsible for the depressive state is inhibited.
- Bananas. They are a source of regular carbohydrates. Bananas improve your mood and help your brain get a boost of energy, which is exactly what a person experiences during periods of depression. But along with this, the feeling of excitement may intensify.
Psychologists also recommend drinking more than 2 liters to increase your mood. water a day and walking in the fresh air - this comprehensively improves metabolic processes and allows you to restore the production of the same hormones.
