Kids and coffee: do they go together?

Mr.+Meruer+and+Joe+enjoying+their+morning+with+cheering+their+coffee.

Joe Costello

Mr. Meruer and Joe enjoying their morning with cheering their coffee.

Students drink coffee a lot, but many may be unaware of the effects of coffee on them.

US Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health suggests, “Caffeine consumption was frequent among young adults. In the last month, 36% of students had an energy drink, 69% had coffee or espresso, and 86% reported having some caffeine.”

Effects of Coffee

To know why students drink coffee, one thing needs to be answered clearly understand the effects of coffee.

Many people believe that coffee makes people not fall asleep or stay awake during the day or night. However, what makes people stay awake is caffeine contained in coffee. People are well aware of that coffee keeps people  awake- but people are not aware of the other side effects.

According to RxList, “Coffee containing caffeine can cause insomnia, nervousness, and restlessness, stomach upset, nausea and vomiting, increased heart and breathing rate, and other side effects. Consuming large amounts of coffee might also cause headache, anxiety, agitation, ringing in the ears, and irregular heartbeats.”

Why students drink coffee?

Coming back to the question: ‘why students drink coffee?’, one of Cotter’s students, Ilya, shared his story.

Ilya in his first period with his coffee to stay him awake in the morning and during the day (Cole Ebertowski)

Ilya said he started to drink coffee when he was ten years old. “When I first drank coffee, I drank it to try out one of the ways to get rid of a headache,” he said.

Unlike Ilya, Some people even drink coffee to follow the mainstream. Clinical Nutrition, the study conducted to identify sources and reasons students drinking coffee, says, “Students provided multiple reasons for caffeine use including to feel awake (79%); enjoy the taste (68%); the social aspects of consumption (39%); improve concentration (31%); increase physical energy (27%); improve mood (18%) and alleviate stress (9%).”

Is drinking coffee beneficial?

Spectrum Nutrition gives a point of one of the benefits of coffee. “They will keep your brain cells healthy as well as boost the performance of your neurotransmitters. Drinking coffee every day has linked these qualities to the reduced risk of several conditions, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.”

While coffee has a few positive effects on people, it also suggests that “drinking coffee also causes the body to lose calcium, which is carried out excessively by the urine. Over time, excessive coffee drinkers could be putting themselves at risk of conditions such as osteoporosis, where the bones become less dense and more fragile.”

Ilya also mentioned that he thinks drinking coffee has both good and bad effects outcome consequences results.   He claims the antitoxins in coffee are a health benefit. He also says that at the same time, coffee is bad because it gives people fake energy. It makes adrenalin which leads people more tired and anxious.

So when deciding what to have as your morning beverage students should learn the pros and cons of what they are drinking.