Coffee! COFFEE!! CoFfEe!!!

Day 3- I woke up and did the same thing I have done the past 2 days. Got up, grabbed a bite to eat, and then out for my walk I went. Although, I need to be honest, my walk wasn't a full half hour. More like 20 minutes. I don't want to make excuses, but when I woke up my knee was swollen and sore and I thought it best not to push it.

So today's post is going to be a little different. I have heard and read many things talking about the health benefits of drinking coffee. This makes me very excited because I love coffee.

So here we go, health benefits of drinking coffee:

1.) Less likely to get type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia.

2.) Fewer cases of getting certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes

In my family, we have an outrageous medical history of almost every disease, or heart problem you can think of, so for me this is pretty outstanding! And don't take this out of context here, I didn't say coffee would prevent these cases, only lower your risk.

Another article I found was on how coffee has been linked to lower the depression risk in women. "Women who drink four cups of coffee a day are 20 percent less likely to become depressed than women who rarely drink coffee..." says an article from Reuters.com by Julie Steenhuysen.

Now I admit 4 cups of coffee seems like a bit much, at least to me, but there are a lot of people who drink that many, if not more, cups of coffee daily. 

"Animal studies have shown that caffeine protects against certain neurotoxins. And brain receptors that respond to caffeine are concentrated in the basal ganglia, an area that is important for both depression and 

Parkinson's disease" Julie Steenhuysen says.

Now, more studies need to be done to prove this but in my opinion, this is not a coincidence. The whole time I was reading this article I was thinking about how some people have the, "Don't talk to me before I have had a cup of coffee," mentality. Maybe coffee does help people's moods more than researchers think. So if you're feeling down, grab a cup of joe for a little bit of a mood boost. But like everything else in the world, good things are only good in moderation. Coffee also has negative effects if you over consume.

Here are the links to the articles I have read, if any of you would like to read some more-

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/coffee-new-health-food

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/27/us-coffee-depression-idUSTRE78Q3GK20110927