You’re not alone if you require a cup of coffee to start your day; in fact, you’re most people. A 2020 National Coffee Association study found that 62% of Americans consume coffee every day in some way. And while drinking coffee isn’t always unhealthy, there are some negative behaviors that, depending on how you do it, might hasten ageing.
1. Drinking Coffee as breakfast
Since many people believe that breakfast is the most essential meal of the day, substituting coffee for it can’t be beneficial for your general health.
In particular, a diet that is detrimental to good ageing, says Moskovitz, can result from skipping this meal period. Additionally, missing breakfast in favor of coffee alone has been linked to major health issues, according to a number of studies.
According to a study on meal timings, eating habits where participants routinely skipped breakfast were linked to a greater risk of cognitive decline than habits where meal times were more evenly distributed.
2. Sugary And Light Coffee
– Fair warning: depending on how much creamer and sweetener you add to your coffee if you prefer not to drink it black, it may have an impact on your health.
According to Moskovitz, consuming excessive amounts of sugar every time you need a pick-me-up might add up over time. Moderate levels of sugar are OK in your diet.
In particular, as you get older, you can see a significant rise in blood sugar, inflammation, and many other health issues. A study also discovered that older persons who consumed more added sugar were more likely to be “frail,” which is a term for having lost weight unintentionally and engaging in less physical activity.
3. Coffee instead water.
– Many people frequently neglect to remember to drink water, but doing so while drinking a lot of coffee can lead to dehydration and disastrous effects on your general health.
Dehydration, according to Moskovitz, “may significantly affect your skin, digestion, energy levels, vitamin absorption, and even joints,” and can result from failing to follow up your caffeine with water.
4. Consuming Coffee Day and Night
Try your best to keep to the morning when determining when to consume coffee. Even if coffee doesn’t keep you up at night, you shouldn’t consume it just before going to bed.
Continually, Moskovitz “Caffeine is a stimulant that prevents restful sleep if ingested too close to bedtime. On healing, immune system, mood, vitality, metabolism, and everything else in between, poor sleep can have a disastrous effect.”
Sleep disruption is a significant issue, according to research. One night of insufficient sleep might speed up cell ageing, according to a UCLA study that was published in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which can eventually lead to age-related disorders.
5. Artificial Sweeteners
– Here’s the thing about artificial sweeteners: despite the fact that it can seem like a good idea to substitute them for real sugar in your coffee rather than using the real thing, they actually have a negative influence on your long-term health.
In addition to being nutritionally worthless, non-nutritive sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame can impair insulin levels and intestinal health, which affect all important bodily processes and make you crave more sweets throughout the day, claims Moskovitz.