There is nothing wrong with having your caffeine kick to get you going, and there is research that shows the benefits of enjoying a daily cup of coffee.
But like all things, moderation is the key, writes psychologist, author and speaker Margaret Lambert in her latest Health Focus column.
Are you one of those people who needs to kick-start the day with caffeine?
If so, you are certainly not alone!
Morning coffee has become quite a ritual for many of us, and coffee shops have been popping up all over the place to provide for the high consumption rates.
Some years ago when I was battling chronic fatigue, I not only dosed myself on multiple cups of coffee throughout the day, but I also supplemented this quantity of caffeine with guarana capsules.
For those who are not familiar with the product, guarana is a dietary supplement and an effective stimulant.
It is derived from the seeds of a plant native to the Amazon basin.
As a supplement, it can be consumed in capsules, tablets or powder form.
The concentration of caffeine in guarana seeds is twice the amount as found in coffee beans.
As a supplement, guarana is a potent source of caffeine, and is found in energy drinks such as Red Bull.
With a chronic fatigue condition, I found that dosing myself with both coffee and guarana several times a day provided me with the energy boost that I needed to get through the days and to make it through to the end of the working week.
Guarana and coffee were certainly helping me! However, when the weekends arrived, my body completely flagged, leaving me bedridden.
I would need the entire weekend to recover sufficiently to go back to work again at the commencement of the following week.
This was the pattern that I lived for many months, perhaps years, until my body could no longer maintain the energy output and collapsed in a seriously depleted state.
I realised that coffee, and in particular, the guarana supplements, were keeping my energy levels afloat and boosting my system in a way that was not sustainable.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]When you consume high levels of caffeine, you are receiving unrealistic feedback from your body regarding your true energy levels.[/social_quote]
Large amounts of caffeine provide an artificial high for the body, giving you an inaccurate reading of available energy.
It is especially dangerous for anyone experiencing chronic fatigue illnesses, to expend energy based on signals that are not an accurate indication of the body’s true state.
Doing so will most certainly result in longer-term setback.
Until next time…
