Coffee, believe it or not, may have more positive health benefits than you might think.

This may surprise you given that many reports have been published about how harmful coffee can be, but of course, ‘everything in moderation’ as the old adage goes.

Benefits

Caffeine kick

There is of course the benefit of increasing energy levels and making you feel less tired due to the caffeine,1,2, the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world3, but that’s pretty common knowledge. Drinking coffee gets caffeine into your bloodstream which then enters the brain,4 and once there it blocks an inhibitory neurotransmitter called Adenosine. After that, the amount of other neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and dopamine actually increase, leading to enhanced firing of neurons. 5, 6

There have been many controlled trials in humans that show how coffee improves various aspects of brain function, including memory, mood, vigilance, energy levels, reaction times and general cognitive function.7, 8, 9

Fat burning

But, did you know that caffeine is found in almost every fat burning supplement? The reason for this is that coffee has been proven to help increase the metabolic rate by between 3 and 11%, which in turn speeds up the burning of fat and calories.10,11

Physical performance enhancer

Another interesting point is that caffeine can drastically improve physical performance by stimulating your nervous system, causing it to send signals to the fat cells to break down body fat 12, 13 and it also increases Epinephrine (Adrenaline) levels in the blood 14, 15 which is the “fight or flight” hormone, designed to make our bodies ready for intense physical exertion.