It’s hard to say for sure when people started drinking coffee but it definitely has been over five centuries now. Over this time coffee has become a part of a daily routine for hundreds of millions of people. It’s addictive, it’s delicious, it’s all around the globe. There are morning coffees, Christmas themed coffees, all sorts of lattes, hot, cold, sweet – anything you can possibly think of. The world is so used to it that we rarely think about the downsides.

Here are some of them.

It messes with quality of your sleep. 

Studies have shown that coffee affects secretion of melatonin – the sleep hormone. It could potentially play other important roles in our bodies but so far not enough research has been conducted to understand the purpose of melatonin fully.

This is why you should never drink coffee in the evening hours but should also consider skipping your morning coffees as well. Sleeping is one of the most important things for any living being and we are not an exception. The whole mechanism of sleep runs on melatonin and messing with it obviously won’t end well.

Dips of energy when the caffeine wears off. 

While it lasts it’s great, you feel energized, full of life and capable. But as soon as the effect is gone you turn into an empty shell of a person. Though it differs from human to human, generally it is what happens and it’s pretty similar to withdrawal from any other addictive substance.

Remember how you feel in the morning before you have a coffee? Yeah, that’s the withdrawal. And as soon as you get high on caffeine again, you’re good to go. Sadly, it’s an addiction, as any other.

Coffee makes your body produce cortisol in amounts comparable to those that are produced when you’re going through substantial stress.

In multiple studies increased level of cortisol – which is a stress hormone – has been linked to different problems such as acne, weight gain, severe fatigue, difficulty concentrating, weakness, headaches and more. Most cells in the human body have cortisol receptors so it can affect just about everything.

Gut. 

While maybe you won’t see a difference if you drink coffee a couple times per week, habitual coffee drinking messes up your natural bowel movement. While it hasn’t been scientifically figured out why exactly that happens, it happens; surprisingly enough decaffeinated coffee has the same effect, so, apparently in this case it isn’t about caffeine. Over time you will notice that you tend to go to the bathroom only after you had a coffee or two.

Coffee is dehydrating. 

Considering the fact that people tend to rarely drink enough water daily, this particular downside of coffee effects our bodies even more. Some tend to even think that since coffee is also a liquid, it counts as having some water.

Studies on this particular topic yielded pretty different results and many scientists have their opinion on this. I am not a scientist but I think that in this case it’s better to be safe than sorry and at the very least have some additional water with your coffee.

What you will probably experience while quitting coffee

– Headaches;

– Constipation;

– Irritation and mood drops;

– Fatigue.

You should quit caffeine gradually, as any other narcotic. Let’s say you have three coffees daily. Start with finishing your third one only halfway and do so for a number of days until you get completely comfortable with it. Next step then would be getting rid of that third cup altogether. Well, you get the gist of it. The key is not going cold turkey from the get go or you’ll experience all of the withdrawal symptoms for sure. Be careful and take one day at a time – there’s no rush.

While it takes as little as 4 days, according to some studies, to get rid of all the withdrawal symptoms if you quit coffee abruptly, those are going to be hellish four days if you go from three coffees to zero.

Surely it is everybody’s personal business whether to drink coffee or not. Even if you decide to still have your three cups, it’s good to know what it does to you. Just some food for thought.

P.S. I had a coffee while writing this, by the way, so no judgement from me lol