CAFFEINE

Ok- so I have to admit I have quite low blood pressure.  I always have.  For some reason caffeine makes me feel like I can actually function among the living.  If I don't drink caffeine, I drag through the day like a zombie! I admit some days are ok, when I've had 9 or 10 hours of sleep. I can actually function without it, but for the busiest days at work, and for days I know I'm going to need to get a lot done, or days I average 6-7 hours of sleep-which I normally do, I feel so much worth while if I have a tad bit of caffeine.  For many years now, I've resorted to Sugar Free RedBull.

Love it!!  I feel so motivated and focused.  No jitters here!  I know the acids, carbonation, and other ingredients are not the healthiest.  So...what are my options?  I just recently heard of a woman in my good friend Dena's ward who suffers from extremely low blood pressure.  Her doctor adamantly offered two choices.  He said you need to be on this prescription medication that will regulate your low blood pressure....OR you can have a cup or two of coffee every day.  Coffee he said is the healthiest of "energy drinks".  Here are some new found benefits of drinking coffee....

1. It protects your heart: Moderate coffee drinkers (1 to 3 cups/day) have lower rates of stroke than noncoffee drinkers, an effect linked to coffee’s antioxidants. Coffee has more antioxidants per serving than blueberries, making it the biggest source of antioxidants in American diets. All those antioxidants may help suppress the damaging effect of inflammation on arteries. Immediately after drinking it, coffee raises your blood pressure and heart rate, but over the long term, it actually may lower blood pressure as coffee’s antioxidants activate nitric acid, widening blood vessels.

2. It diverts diabetes: Those antioxidants (chlorogenic acid and quinides, specifically) play another role: boosting your cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar. In fact, people who drink 4 or more cups of coffee each day may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to some studies. Other studies have shown that caffeine can blunt the insulin-sensitivity boost, so if you do drink several cups a day, try mixing in decaf occasionally.

3. Your liver loves it: OK, so the research here is limited, but it looks like the more coffee people drink, the lower their incidence of cirrhosis and other liver diseases. One analysis of nine studies found that every 2-cup increase in daily coffee intake reduced liver cancer risk by 43 percent. Again, it’s those antioxidants—chlorogenic and caffeic acids—and caffeine that might prevent liver inflammation and inhibit cancer cells.

4. It boosts your brain power: Drinking between 1 and 5 cups a day (admittedly a big range) may help reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s disease, studies suggest. Those antioxidants may ward off brain cell damage and help the neurotransmitters involved in cognitive function to work better.

5. It helps your headaches: And not just the withdrawal headaches caused by skipping your daily dose of caffeine! Studies show that 200 milligrams of caffeine—about the amount in 16 ounces of brewed coffee—provides relief from headaches, including migraines. Exactly how caffeine relieves headaches isn’t clear. But scientists do know that caffeine boosts the activity of brain cells, causing surrounding blood vessels to constrict. One theory is that this constriction helps to relieve the pressure that causes the pain, says Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and director of the Headache Clinic at the University of Vermont Medical School.

Now, that’s not to say that coffee doesn’t have any pitfalls—it does. Some people are super-sensitive to caffeine and get jittery or anxious after drinking coffee; habitual coffee drinkers usually develop a tolerance to caffeine that eliminates this problem (but they then need the caffeine to be alert and ward off withdrawal headaches). Coffee can also disturb sleep, especially as people age. Cutting some of the caffeine and drinking it earlier in the day can curb this effect. Lastly, unfiltered coffee (like that made with a French press) can raise LDL cholesterol, so use a filter for heart health.

Now I find myself speculating, if I were to chose the healthier of the two...energy drinks like Sugar Free Red Bull, or Sugar Free Monster, or 5 Hour Energy..... or a cup of coffee...I would dare to say that COFFEE is the healthier.  Now I have a dilemma because coffee is against the Word Of Wisdom that I so  diligently taught as a missionary and believe as a faithful LDS member.  The rest of story about the woman who's doctor gave her a choice of a prescription medication, or 2 cups of coffee daily....she is also an active LDS member who holds a temple recommend.  Upon receiving her Temple recommend, she explained the situation to her bishop, who in turn said it was fine if those were the options and gladly signed her recommend.

What do you think?  What are your views on coffee, caffeine, and health?  Please leave your comments!  I'm curious to know how you feel!  :)