Almost all of us if not all cannot live each day without having caffeinated drinks like soda and coffee. As a matter of fact, drinking a cup of coffee is one of the first things that most of us do upon waking up. With all these routines, our everyday lives would not be complete without having to drink our favorite carbonated drink.

But even if coffee and other caffeinated drinks are one of our everyday staples, most of us have split views when it comes to drinking coffee. There are those who think that coffee gives them a lot of benefits, while there are also a number that think that it is bad for their health. So before you drink your cup of caffeinated drink such as coffee, here are some of the good and bad sides of caffeine.

Good side of caffeine:

We can get the health benefits of caffeinated beverages when we drink into moderation.

• Caffeine helps boost mental function. There have been studies that suggest that caffeine lovers, specifically coffee drinkers are at lesser risk of acquiring conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and memory loss.
• Caffeine helps people lose weight as it has components that aids in breaking down fats and cholesterol deposits.
• Researches also claim that drinking coffee makes a person at lesser risk to have non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.
• Caffeine is like an energy booster as it helps awaken the body.
• Caffeine has antioxidants much needed by the body to get rid of toxins.

Bad side of caffeine:

The harmful side effects of caffeine affect us when we drink more than we should:

• Caffeine can cause restlessness and trembling when taken in high quantity.
• It can lead a person to have trouble sleeping when coffee and other caffeinated drinks are taken to more than what the body can tolerate.
• Too much caffeine can also irritate the gastric mucosa causing stomach upset and irritations.
• Caffeine is a diuretic which makes one urinate frequently than the usual. This makes a person prone to have dehydration is severe cases.
• Too much caffeine intake is also linked to make one prone to have high blood pressure and hypertension.
• Caffeine can also increase a person’s heart rate. This makes one prone for heart conditions.

Caffeine has its own pros and cons. But in general it is not bad for the health just as long as you would not go beyond what you are expected to have. Two cups to a maximum of three a day is considered to be healthy.

In order to be healthy and to function well, all of us need uninterrupted sleep for at least eight hours daily. Sleep is very important to help the body rejuvenate and heal itself from all the activities that it went through the day. It is also thru sleep that the body gets to rest and to regain strength for the following day’s activity.

Although sleep is very essential for all of us to have, sad to say, at times because of several reasons we cannot complete the required amount of time for sleeping. Factors like stress, too much caffeine, alcohol intake, too much activity, using of illicit drugs, and some diseases can all lead to poor sleeping habits in a person. Without sleep, we tend to be cranky, week and irritable.

If ever you suffer from insomnia or lack of sleep, do not worry much. There are things that you can do which will help cope with less sleep. The following are some of the tips on how to effectively cope with less sleep:

• Have a cold shower! Do not believe on old wives tale saying that taking a bath when you have less sleep will make you sick. A cold shower helps wake up the senses and will instantly give you the energy to start the day.
• Drink coffee. Coffee is one of the major reasons why most people are not sleeping well at night. But it is also good for people who lack sleep because it keeps the body active and awake. Just make sure that you won’t drink hours before bedtime so that you would not be repeating your bouts of difficulty in sleeping.
• Find the sun. When we think about daytime we always have the sun in mind. When you had poor sleep quality the night before, expose yourself in the sun because it is like an energy booster and an indicator that it is a brand new you day and whether you like it or not you need to get up.
• Try to be active. It may be hard but in order for you to have energy; you need to wake up your senses. In going to the office, try using the stairs rather than the elevator. Doing simple exercises before officially starting your day will serve as energy booster even if you have less hour of sleep during the previous night.
• Pamper yourself. It is given that your body is tired because it was not able to get the hours of sleep needed, so make ways to do extra effort to pamper yourself. Have a massage or treat yourself for a sumptuous meal. These things will help your body regain energy.

When you are on a diet, temptation seems to be working double time in breaking your goal of eating healthy. Being placed on those situations is one of the most awkward feeling ever. You are in a dilemma of holding back or giving in on those sumptuous foods. But you realized that eating foods like chocolates won’t certainly do any good to your diet and of course your body. So you settle for foods that you think are healthy instead of eating on the food you think is sinful.

But what we don’t know is that some foods are just not as healthy as we think it is. There are certain foods that are just like the icing on the cake, in reality they are also full of calories much like the foods that you consider sinful. For those who are dieting, it is a must to know what foods that disguise as healthy yet filled with calories so that you can avoid them and achieve your goal of eating healthy.

Here are some of the diets busting foods that you should never eat:

• Vegetable Salad

Not because it is vegetable, it means that it is healthy. Most of the time what make salads unhealthy is the dressing. Some salads are dressed with mayonnaise, cheese, bacon chips, ham, and nuts. All of these foods are rich in fat and will certainly defeat your purpose of eating a low calorie meal. Salads with heavy dressing have much more calories as compared to grilled meats.

• Different Kinds of Soup

Those who are on a diet eat more of soup because they make the stomach full easily so there would be lesser possibility to consume more food. But what make most soups unhealthy are the ingredients that it has. Most of these soups especially those that are made in restaurants are full of cream and milk. To be safe, make sure that you know what are in the soup you are going to have so that you do not need to over indulge.

• Coffee

Coffee is guilty free because it has very little amount of calories so most dieters will drink lots of cups to suppress hunger. But adding cream, sugar, and other flavorings to the coffee makes it unhealthy to drink. This can make the regular coffee added with so many calories and before you know it, you are gaining weight because of the coffee you drink.diet

• Diet Sodas

Many think that it is perfectly drinks diet sodas because it won’t affect ones dieting. But what is scary with diet sodas is that we can be overly dependent that it is guilt free drinks making us drink so many cans in a day. Though it has few calories, but drinking a lot can also be equal to the calories found on regular sodas.

• Low Calorie Delights

There are a lot of low calorie goodies available from cookies, cereals, to crackers. That is why those who are dieting eat them in high amounts with the thought that it is not going to make them fat anyways. But in reality even if they claim that these foods have low calories, it still have calories so eating large quantities will still make you fat.

In dieting make sure to count the calories that is in your food so that you know when to take a bite or

have more servings. Every calorie counts and without the proper knowledge on the calories found on food, you will break your diet before your very eyes.

Acid reflux is a common condition that can affect anyone of us. The condition happens when the acid contents of the stomach rise all the way up to the esophagus causing the person affected to have symptoms like heartburn, dry cough, and feeling of soreness in the throat. Although acid reflux is not a serious medical condition but is can lead to a graver one when left unmanaged, and not to mention the symptoms that it gives can be very uncomfortable making the one with the condition to be less productive whether in school or at work.

One of the best ways to prevent acid reflux from happening is by choosing the foods that you eat. There are some foods that can trigger the condition and leads a person to experience the symptoms. It is very important for a person who has acid reflux to know what foods that can lead to develop acid reflux so that he can avoid it.

The following are the foods that can cause acid reflux:

• Coffee

This beverage is what every person with acid reflux should avoid. Coffee has acid content that can surely trigger acid reflux symptoms especially when taken several times a day.

• Fried Chicken, French Fries, and Other Fried Foods

Fried foods are one of the enemies of those suffering with acid reflux. These types of foods are complicated to digest because of its fat contents leading to the secretion of more acid in the stomach. This in turn leads to the appearance of acid reflux symptoms.

• Spicy Foods

Spicy foods seem to be everyone’s favorite food especially during a cold weather. The spicy flavor adds more appeal to certain foods making them more exciting to eat. But these types of foods are big no-no for those who are suffering with acid reflux. The spiciness of the foods triggers for acid reflux attacks.

• Alcoholic Beverages

Different types of alcohol increases the secretion of acid contents in the stomach especially when ingested in large quantities. The acid reflux symptoms add to the discomforts felt by a person who had much alcohol.

• Pork, Beef, Chicken, Turkey

Meats take longer to digest as compared to other foods which make it very difficult for the stomach to digest. Digesting meat takes more time which leads to the production of more gastric acids in the stomach then leading to acid reflux.

• Milk

Milk and other dairy products leads to increase acid contents emitted by the stomach, it is recommended to drink it with an empty stomach so as to limit acid production.

 Coffee is one of the most popular beverages next to water and tea. Everyone likes to drink coffee, you do not need to have any sort of social status or gender to have a cup of coffee. Coffee is part of every household’s staple just like sugar, salt, and other kitchen essentials. Coffee came from coffee beans that are mostly grown in parts of Southeast Asia, Latin America, and in some countries of the African continent. Now, drinking coffee is widespread to all parts of the globe.

Although coffee is like everybody’d favorite drink, we do not want to drink much of it because of the notion that coffee is bad for the health. Caffeine, one of the main components of coffee is associated with a lot of conditions like hypertension and palpitations. This is the reason why there are still a lot of people who are afraid of drinking even just a cup coffee.

But what most people don’t know is that coffee actually gives a lot of health benefits. As a matter of fact many people have turn into coffee lovers not just because coffee taste good, but because of the healthy benefits it give the body.

Here are some the healthy side of coffee:

• Coffee helps regulate insulin levels in the body that is specifically needed in preventing the occurrence of diabetes mellitus. Sugarless coffee is also advised to be taken by known diabetics as it helps normalize blood sugar levels.
• Coffee is good in keeping the brain functioning well. It is specifically recommended in preventing the occurrence of dementia as it helps keep sharp memory.
• Coffee reduces ones risk in acquiring cancers. The antioxidants in coffee help prevent the disease from affecting the body with certain cancers.
• Coffee cuts the risk of having liver disorders like cirrhosis by a big percentage of 80.
• Coffee perks the body and gives it the needed energy to keep the day going.
• Coffee is actually good for asthmatic patients. The caffeine contents in coffee help in the relief during asthma attacks.
• Coffee reduces ones risk in having gallstones. It helps the bile function well preventing the formation of gall stones.
• Coffee especially when it’s hot is a good nasal decongestant as it helps soften secretions.
• Coffee helps relieve stress and enhances the mood especially during a long tiring day.

Coffee gives a lot of health benefits. But what we should always remember not to go overboard and drink too much coffee; when we this happens, the good benefits of coffee may turn into harmful ones.

With the fast paced world we live in people adapt by altering their lifestyle to cope with the changes and be able to survive day to day living. With the demands of work, family and other tasks which have to be done on a daily basis, an average individual manages to get by with a cup of coffee. Most people start their day with one serving to give them that energy boost to quick start their day. For some one cup isn’t enough and they may consume more than three servings a day depending on the stress and demands of work.

Seldom do we realize that the active component of coffee which is caffeine has harmful effects to the body if taken in large amounts over a prolonged period of time. Caffeine is classified as a drug that stimulates which promotes alertness and gives energy to the body. It is a natural compound that is commonly found in coffee beans, chocolates and tea leaves.

Scientifically caffeine works by blocking a chemical called adenosine, which is responsible for putting the brain to sleep to conserve energy and preserve neurons. Since caffeine acts as a competitive inhibitor to the adenosine receptors it produces an effect that makes the central nervous system alert and aroused.

Here are some of the effects of caffeine in our system.

• Irregular heartbeat
• Restlessness
• Anxiety
• Nervousness
• Difficulty in sleeping
• Tremors
• Poor concentration
• Agitated feeling
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Mood Swings

Above symptoms are included in the “fight or flight” response of our body that is a reflex action that protects us from harm. Caffeine directly affects the central nervous system responsible in regulating this “fight and flight” response when needed in emergency situations. Regular and excessive consumption of caffeine can produce similar symptoms thus increasing anxiety levels in an individual.

Anxiety can be harmful to humans as it can cause panic attacks that can literally endanger life by increasing heart rate which can lead to a heart attack in severe cases. Caffeine alone cannot induce a person into an anxiety attack but other factors such as stress, poor diet and lack of exercise and rest will trigger anxiety attacks and further lead to sickness. For individuals who are diagnosed with anxiety disorders caffeine intake is contraindicated for them as these will only aggravate or trigger anxiety attacks especially that they are easily prone to them. Some people who regularly drink coffee complain of the inability to sleep or insomnia. This can be a long term effect of drinking too much coffee that the body has adapted to always be on the go and alert neglecting the need to rest and sleep. Although effects of caffeine vary from each individual, one may experience insomnia while others may find it easy to induce sleep. For those who are occasional drinkers of coffee they may experience alertness with just one cup while for other it usually takes them 3 to 4 cups more to achieve the desired level of energy and alertness.