So they say, you are what you eat. But believe it or not, you’re also what you drink. Everyone knows someone who can’t function without their morning cup of coffee. Honestly, I fall in this category, and many people do. I have been guilty of having too much coffee some days and spending a little too much at Starbucks.
Coffee is the world’s most popular drink, with about two billion cups consumed daily. The world would literally stop if someone banned coffee.
Approximately 64% of Americans drink coffee daily, which is more than any other beverage, including tap water, and up by nearly 14% since January 2021. And these statistics are not just exclusive to the USA only. There are millions of coffee drinkers around the world.
Many people use drinking coffee as an excuse for social interaction, while others use it to stay alert and awake. Whatever the reason, coffee is one drink that is popular virtually everywhere on the planet.
Drinking coffee while studying is common among college students. But is caffeine good for students? Can a cup of coffee or your Red Bull really increase your ability to concentrate? Will that white cappuccino or macchiato help in committing things to memory?
There’s so much myth floating around, so let’s dig into the science behind drinking coffee and the importance of coffee to students.
The Science Behind Drinking Coffee While Studying
Many people don’t understand how coffee works. 1 cup of 8 ounces of brewed coffee contains about 95 mg of caffeine, a psychoactive substance. Caffeine doesn’t just make you feel energetic, it actually increases the number of crucial neurotransmitters in your blood.
These neurotransmitters keep you mentally alert, get more energy, and improve reaction time. Because your neurons can fire more rapidly, your brain, as a whole, works faster. That is why companies, colleges, and economies run on caffeine.
Caffeine works by temporarily knocking all the sleep signals (adenosine) off its receptor sites in the brain. That effect tricks the brain into thinking you’ve just woken up from a refreshing sleep, giving you the pleasant feeling of alertness. Nonetheless, Coffee is technically a drug because it alters your mind and does a hell of a job at that.
It’s way safer than taking Ritalin or Adderall. Taking no stimulants whatsoever is probably a healthier option, but studying is just more efficient with coffee.
Importance of Coffee for Students
Crammed with high levels of antioxidants and mind-buzzing nutrients, there’s a range of benefits that come with drinking coffee. After all, it’s not one of the world’s most popular beverages for no good reason. For students, in particular, it is liquid gold. So, aside from the buzz, what are the advantages of coffee to college students?
Enhances concentration focus
Students are often surrounded by distractions when studying, making it difficult to check things off their to-do lists. However, coffee centers their focus, making it easier to comb through their books or listen to lectures. It drives attention to the main task – studying.
Improves mood and reduces depression
As the golden child of drinks, coffee can make you feel less blue. A longitudinal study found that depression risk decreases with increasing caffeinated coffee consumption. Caffeine causes your body to increase the level of dopamine in your brain, making you feel happy.
It has anti-inflammatory properties that are associated with decreased depression. Caffeine blocks mood-depressing chemicals in the brain and stops receptors from binding with adenosine which causes fatigue and depressed mood.
Coffee helps you stay fit
There’s much more going through a student’s mind than how to complete an assignment, write a research paper, or complete a thesis. Caffeine increases your metabolic rate and helps release adrenaline into your system. This effect can help you get better results at the gym, bench press harder, run faster, etc.
After all, adrenaline is called a fight-or-flight hormone for a reason. But that’s not all a cup of coffee can offer before the gym session. Caffeine is insanely good for burning fat. It is so good that you’ll burn 30% more fat after a cup of coffee before starting your cardio or aerobic exercises.
Improves short-term memory
Coffee boosts memory and enhances short-term capabilities so that you can quickly learn and absorb new information. This effect is critical, especially during long study sessions, because it allows students to retain more details over a short period of time.
Scientists have proven this benefit after performing MRI on participants who had completed various information retention tests after drinking coffee. If you are one of those students that like to cram things before the exam, you may want to get caffeinated as you do that.
Quick Fact: If you really need to improve your grades, you might need more than hitting the books while drinking coffee. After all, the effects of caffeine are temporary.
Use Paper Writing Services As An Alternative to Coffee
Notwithstanding the benefits of black coffee or any other type, drinking more than four cups of coffee could lead to physical dependence and other effects. The more you habitually drink, the more you’ll need to drink to feel the same buzz as before.
While many consume caffeine without negative consequences, drinking too much could cause muscle twitching, headaches, and vomiting. But you don’t have to jeopardize your health for the sake of completing that complex assignment or essay. Fortunately, there’s actually an alternative to drinking coffee while burning the midnight oil studying.
Students can use professional custom writing companies, such as CustomWritings essay writing service to get control of their studies. The company can help you complete and submit that last-minute paper on time, even if the deadline is dangerously close.
Whatever subject is causing you pain, the writing service has expert academic writers who deliver subject-specific and content-savvy papers based on your needs and rubric guidelines. This is good news because you don’t have to empty a pot of coffee while studying or writing a complicated paper.
Tips to Get the Most Coffee Benefits for Students
Considering the side effects of heavy and long-term consumption of coffee, here are the tips to get the most out of coffee for studying.
- Consume the right amount
- Consider using coffee before the most important tasks
- Stick to less than four cups of coffee a day if you’re a coffee addict
- Avoid drinking coffee 8 hours before bedtime
- Reset your caffeine tolerance every once in a while
- Try to space out your intake rather than going for it all at once
Ending Note
So, is coffee good for studying? Absolutely! Coffee definitely improves your ability to study when consumed sensibly. In the short run, it boosts energy levels, improves concentration and focus, and enhances memory, which certainly helps you study with more intensity.
However, the stimulant effect of coffee, while offering immediate mental and cognitive benefits, isn’t a sustainable replacement for recharging your batteries with rest and sleep. With heavy consumption comes energy swings and disrupted sleep, which can make your life increasingly difficult.
By all means, have your coffee, but do so in a way that benefits you!
