We have good news! You should drink coffee. We know, for every study you find that tells you one thing, you can find two more that tell you the exact opposite. But here are four real reasons that coffee is good for you.
Caffeine improves your brain function. Scientists at John Hopkins found in 2014 that caffeinated participants had improved memories over their non-caffeinated counterparts.
Drinking coffee can help you live a longer life. Coffee beans are high in antioxidants which help to fight free radicals in the body, those unstable molecules that cause heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. In several studies, coffee drinkers have been shown to have a decreased risk of death. Caffeine may also lower your risk of Type II Diabetes. In 2014, researchers at Vanderbilt University discovered that coffee drinkers had fewer markers of Type II diabetes and the Harvard School of Public Health found that consuming more than one cup of coffee each day for a four-year period lowered the risk of type II diabetes by 11%.
Caffeine helps you stay fit. Drinking coffee can boost your metabolism by up to 11% and it can increase your fat burning by up to 29% in leaner folks. And the American College of Sports Medicine found that drinking coffee improves performance during short-term exercise up to 90 minutes (the ideal dose of caffeine for this is 3 to 9 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight).
Drinking coffee may make you a happier person. A 2011 Harvard study showed that women who drank four cups of coffee a day had a 20% lower chance of developing depression. And another study showed that coffee drinkers had lower rates of suicide.
So, don’t worry, drink happy. And enjoy your coffee.