I’m old enough that I been through several cycles of, “Coffee is good for you; no coffee is bad for you.” I stopped paying attention a long time ago because, you know, coffee. Now, brought to you from Irreal’s Department of Duh, Ali Abdaal takes a look at the evidence and concludes that on balance coffee is good for you.
The bad news is that too much coffee can cause you to be jittery and may even interfere with your focus. If you drink it too late in the day, it can also disturb your sleep. Of course, most of us already know that if only from personal experience.
There’s plenty of good news, though. Most of us already know that a couple of cups of coffee can increase our alertness and ability to focus. Abdaal quotes some studies that confirms that but the benefits are much more widespread. Coffee will also improve your memory, improve your mood, and help protect from depression. It can also improve physical performance and reduce after-exercise soreness.
Perhaps most surprisingly, coffee can also reduce long-term health problems. For example, coffee can decrease the probability of developing Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, stroke, and some cancers. Significantly, a large meta-study concluded that there’s no evidence that coffee can lead to cancer.
Abdaal covers all this and gives more details in the video. If you’re a coffee drinker or—perhaps more importantly—if you skip coffee because you’re worried about adverse health effects, be sure to take a look at the video. It’s 18 minutes, 16 seconds so you may have to schedule some time.