Coffee is the most consumed drink by people in the world. It is a caffeine-based drink that, thanks to this substance, manages to wake us up and resume when we need it. Thanks to this potential, coffee has become the typical beverage to drink in the morning to help us face the day in the best possible way. But, like everything, coffee does not only bring beneficial effects, but unfortunately it also has many side effects.
Many of them depend on the daily amount of coffee you consume. Let’s never forget that caffeine is a very powerful substance capable of causing very serious reactions in our body: in the most serious cases, it even leads to death. The news a few days ago reported the case of a 35-year-old woman who had attempted suicide by ingesting approximately 40 grams of caffeine. Immediately the toxic effect of the substance was unleashed inside the woman’s body: needless to say, the woman went into cardiac arrest from the caffeine poisoning.
The woman ingested an amount of caffeine equivalent to 350 cups of coffee. One of the milder effects of caffeine is insomnia. This happens because this substance is able to stimulate our central nervous system, thereby increasing our levels of attention and concentration. Precisely for this reason, doctors advise against drinking even a cup of coffee before going to sleep, as it could disturb our rest, especially for people who are more sensitive to its action.
But the negative effects of caffeine don’t stop there. In very high doses, it also manages to have power over our cardiovascular system causing convulsions, which in the most serious cases can lead to death, or an increase in heart rate and therefore tachycardia with a consequent increase in cardiac output. Some studies have shown that regular coffee drinkers have developed mild arrhythmias, that is, a mildly irregular heartbeat.
Other side effects deriving from caffeine have appeared in the scientific literature: many also affect the kidneys. These are responsible for caffeine filtration and over time many patients have been found to develop renal system dysfunction resulting in diuresis problems. But after all these negative aspects, it is also important to specify the few positive effects that caffeine gives us: it allows us to concentrate more and increase our vigilance. Therefore, experts advise us to take only one coffee a day.