How caffeine affects your physical, mental, and menstrual health.
We, as a society, need to break up with caffeine.
And we need to do it now.
“But Caffeine makes me feel good. Caffeine makes me happy! I can’t live without my caffeine!”
I know, I’ve heard it. I’ve said it all myself. I know that sigh of relief when that first sip of coffee, pop, or whatever form of caffeine is available, touches my lips. It makes the exhausting moments of life manageable. It’s a jump start to a day that fatigues you before it begins. It’s a comfort for the weary giving us that strength to push just a little longer. It’s hope. It's a lover. It's a liar.
Caffeine is a lie.
We give it our time, our love, and our money expecting to feel supported, but like a bad relationship, caffeine takes more than it gives. Too much caffeine is hurting us mentally, physically, and relationally and even makes menstrual symptoms worse.
Does caffeine affect you physically?
Caffeine affects our sleep cycle
a. Caffeine attaches itself to receptors that are key to managing the sleep cycle. When these respecters are blocked, the protean adenosine is not able the attach to these respecters. Without this interaction, your brain doesn't know when you need to be awake or asleep. To compensate for the receptors being used by caffeine your brain creates more of these receptors which means that your body is going to need more caffeine to maintain the effects that caffeine was giving you in the beginning. This results in a fatigue spiral where you need more and more caffeine the function during the day and then find it harder to fall asleep at an appropriate time, over, and over, and over.
b. Caffeine also stimulates your body to release more cortisol and adrenaline than it normally would, causing feelings of wakefulness and anxiety.
c. We underestimate the amount of time it takes for caffeine to wear off. Caffeine has so thing called a a half-life. This means that the effects peak but then take a similar amount of time to wear off. The half-life of coffee is about 6 hours and takes about 12 hours to fully work its way out of our systems. The 6-hour mark is usually when people begin to take another dose of caffeine. Not realizing that they have another 12 hours after that second dose before their body has had the chance to work through all the caffeine in their system.
This is why many people find that at the end of the day, they feel wired and tired. Incapable of getting a good night's sleep. Sleep is required for your brain and body to not only feel well the next day but is a necessary building block for the rest of your life. This sets you up for feeling exhausted in the morning. And makes you more likely to make caffeine a part of your everyday life. It's a cycle of exhaustion adrenaline and exhaustion. A relationship that requires more and more of your time and energy to maintain.
2. Caffeine depletes your nutrients.
Caffeine raises the amount of stress hormones in the body. These hormones draw apron essential minerals stored in the body. Because caffeine causes the release of these hormones, caffeine causes your body to burn through minerals like magnesium and calcium.
Caffeine can make it difficult for the human body to absorb minerals and vitamins like vitamin D. Vitamin D has been linked to sleep quality, lowering inflammation, immunity, brain function, and much more.
Caffeine has a mild diuretic effect which can flush the body of important nutrients befor your body has the chance to use them.
3. Caffeine puts your body in the fight-or-flight response.
We have two forms of existence that are controlled by the nervous system. The first is rest and digest and the second is fight or flight. When a person is in fight or flight their body is poised for attack at all times and focuses all of its attention on survival. When someone is experiencing the rest and digest response their body knows that it is safe enough to care for itself. Living in a stressed-out state teaches our bodies not to take the time and resources at our disposal to nourish ourselves. This is necessary for everything from fertility to living a long and healthy life. Because caffeine causes us to run on adrenaline, a link can be drawn to the high consumption of caffeine and a breakdown in functions like the menstrual cycle and other features necessary for longevity.
Does caffeine affect you emotionally?
Caffeine makes us feel more anxious. This is because you are running on adrenaline and cortisol when you consume caffeine. Chronic stress leads to many physical and mental symptoms. Often taking caffeine is a way to cope with a stressful life but the fact is that caffeine may be making that stress worse rather than better.
Caffeine can:
Worsen Depression
Increase anxiety and irritability
Increase mood swings
I have no doute that consuming too much caffeine is making the mental health crises in our culture worse.
Does caffeine affect relationships?
Think about it. If we are all running around in a stressed-out state then how are we supposed to have healthy relationships?
When a possible disagreement blows up into a full blonde fight, or a miner inconvenience becomes today's last straw, could our caffeinated, sleep-deprived, fight-or-fight state be a factor?
So many of us have been self-medicating with caffeine for so long that we don’t truly know what kind of family member, friend, or employee we would be without the adrenalin and cortisol coursing through our veins. Perhaps if we were decaffeinated or even less caffeinated, we would know our limits, know when to say no, rest, and be capable of showing up in a more vibrant and grounded way.
Does caffeine make menstrual symptoms worse?
Caffeine goes against the energy of the menstrual cycle
The energy of the cycle is supposed to ebb and flow. As hormones are at their lowest in the menstrual phase women are primed to have less energy and need more time to rest. However, in the ovulatory phase, women are designed to naturally have a heightened amount of energy. The follicular and luteal phases also have their energy differences. Unfortunately, women often deny themselves the wisdom of the menstrual phase by attempting to work at the same degree of productivity every day often with the aid of caffeine.
Caffeine is a cramp disaster
Caffeine can also make cramps worse by narrowing the blood vessels raising, your inflammation and estrogen, and making you less hydrated. The nutrients that caffeine causes your body to lose also play a factor in the worsening of symptoms that are menstrual cycle-related.
Caffeine makes menstrual symptoms worse
Caffeine makes menstrual symptoms worse in a few ways. First, you need to understand that, to your body creating a baby is not as important as running from a bear. So when somebody is stuck in a fight or flight with stress hormones constantly running through them and not sleeping well it is inevitable that the menstrual cycle will suffer. As we've also discussed prior caffeine can worsen pre-existing mental conditions and lead to heightened levels of irritability and mood swings. These are already issues that many women struggle with in their menstrual cycle and will likely be made worse due to the intake of caffeine.
You deserve better
We all do. Though our culture seems to prize this drug it is not doing us or those around us any favors. It is likely causing us to lose valuable nutrients, making pre-existing conditions worse and the overuse of caffeine is hurting our fertility and overall health.
Making the switch from caffeine can be daunting but worth it. Just reducing your caffeine intake can make an incredible difference. Whatever you do, as long as it is informed and intentional, is better than consuming caffeine at the rate that most people do.
What you can do next
If you choose to keep caffeine in your life there are ways to consume it more mindfully these include hydrating before you consume it, eating foods that help to ground you when you consume caffeine, and being more mindful of when you consume caffeine. Watching other people along their Journey can be extremely helpful. Check out this video of Sam, she's a mother of four works full-time, and is extremely athletic. She's been dependent upon caffeine for decades. In this video, I work with her to come up with actionable steps. to this day she has successfully lowered her caffeine use substantially.
If you choose to take caffeine out of your life entirely your body will thank you! Trying to take caffeine out of your diet for a specific amount of time and introducing new habits can be the easiest way to do so. If you're looking for support follow along as I take my advice and spend the entire month of November caffeine-free!
Caffeine and Sleep:
Caffeine and nutrients:
Caffeine and mental health:
Caffeine and menstrual symptoms:
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