More than 80% of the world’s population consumes coffee on daily basis. Whether you need a kick start to your morning or want to refresh yourself after a tiring day, coffee is always there to rescue. Coffee is known to be the most favored drink throughout the world due to the presence of caffeine. Caffeine is known to help with fatigue and improve alertness due to which one can perform their work in a better manner. Due to the high demand for coffee, many studies are conducted to determine the health benefits of coffee. It can be said that when coffee is consumed in moderation it can bring many health benefits to a person. Few studies have also highlighted its memory-boosting feature. Caffeine is the key element of coffee that can affect your brain in a positive manner to enhance memory. Let us look at the mechanism of caffeine.
How Caffeine is Linked with Memory
Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant and has a direct influence on brain as well as the central nervous system. Since caffeine has a direct influence on brain it boosts activity in the brain. Since, caffeine can improve the circulation of adrenaline and other chemicals it can help you feel energetic, refreshed, and more focused. Effects of caffeine can also be seen on memory however, they are not very clear.
Few studies indicate that caffeine can be beneficial for short-term memory as well as for long-term memory. However, some studies concluded that caffeine had almost no benefits in boosting any type of memory. They even witnessed that caffeine can degrade the performance of people who need to carry out memory tasks. Other studies witnessed that caffeine can be beneficial for memory only when it is consumed at the time of receiving the knowledge as well as at the time of revising the knowledge later. If caffeine is not consumed either at the time of receiving the knowledge or at the time of the revision, the performance of the person cannot be improved but it can actually degrade.
Overconsumption of caffeine can also trigger your brain to remember fake scenarios which can affect your health and work negatively. Hence it is necessary to consume only a healthy dose of caffeine every day. Although around 300-400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine is considered healthy for a normal adult, however, research recommends consumption of 200 mg of caffeine to experience the memory-boosting effects of caffeine. Under an experiment, people were given three different amounts of doses of caffeine i.e. 100 mg, 200mg, and 300mg. It was concluded that the group that consumed 200 mg of caffeine or more performed the best. However, it was also noticed that there was no improvement in the performance when the consumption was more than 300 mg. They also concluded that people need to consume caffeine within a certain time limit when carrying a memory-related task as the effect of caffeine starts to reduce after a certain time.
Not all age groups are benefitted from the consumption of caffeine, it was noticed that people over the age of 50 do not react positively to the consumption of caffeine. As caffeine cannot improve memory that is affected due to old age it is advised to drink coffee only in moderation as overconsumption can lead to headaches and heart palpitations.
Coffee May Reduce the Risk of Brain Diseases
Coffee can be beneficial in reducing the risk of brain diseases like Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Brain cancer, Parkinson’s, and other movement disorders. Coffee is considered to be rich in antioxidants and it was noticed that majority of the people get their serving of antioxidants through coffee. Mostly, antioxidants are found in beverages only and a few amounts of dietary antioxidants come from solid food. Coffee is known to have antioxidants that can reduce the risk of various diseases and improve many health conditions.
- Coffee and Alzheimer’s disease: Alzheimer’s disease can be considered one of the reasons why people suffer from dementia which can gradually get worse. People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease face trouble remembering and also suffer from thinking disorders. Their behavior is also affected due to the problem. Some studies have shown that daily consumption of coffee can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 50-65%. One study also found that older adults who consumed 2-3 cups of coffee regularly had high blood caffeine. And people with high blood caffeine are less prone to get Alzheimer’s disease according to the study.
- Coffee may Reduce the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease: Parkinson’s disease affects the central nervous system negatively. It kills the cells that are necessary for the secretion of dopamine and also affects the nerve cells that are vital for the movement of muscles. Since there are no medications that can cure the problem it is necessary to pay attention to the preventive measures. Some studies indicate that people who have high blood caffeine and consume around 3 cups of coffee daily are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Few studies also concluded that coffee can also help in reducing the symptoms of the disease. It was seen that people who were suffering from tremors and were having trouble with movement also experienced a reduction in their symptoms later.
Due to the presence of neuroprotective antioxidants in the coffee, it can protect you from various other diseases like brain cancer and dementia. Caffeine can prevent a person from getting a tumor by limiting the flow of blood to the brain. It can also help you live longer as compared to a person who does not consume caffeine at all. Few studies suggest that maintaining a healthy amount of caffeine in the blood can help you prevent some types of brain tumors. However, the research is only limited, and more research is required. The studies conducted are mostly carried out for research purposes only but they do not claim to be 100% genuine.
There are a lot of limitations related to each study that needs to be considered before expecting the same results.