Tea or Coffee Good for Study?
Or
Tea or Coffee Good for Health?
These are very common questions that almost everyone of us think at some point of our academic as well as general life. But we either do not show enough interest to get a proper answer for these questions, or in many cases there is a lack of enough information sources. Today, we all have the internet in our smartphones, and for any question we can get some answers courtesy of Google Search. But answers to these types of questions on the internet usually have two types of problems. Either they are too basic and unreliable as in most cases, or the articles are too technical (in medical and biological sense) to be properly read and interpreted by an average common person. As a result the confusions and misconceptions continue to remain.
In this article, I would briefly discuss some important points related to consumption of tea and coffee for the purpose of health and studies. Even though I agree that tea and coffee obviously have a lot of benefits on health, and studies as well, still I would not advocate their regular consumptions for any student and any non-student person as well. Let me discuss why so....
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At the very beginning I would like to ask a couple of questions to you only….
I know you do not have an answer for any above of the questions. I can ask more, but at present let’s discuss these. Not only you, I think no one has got a proper answer to these questions. But still many of you may be having these beverages as your daily essential drink. Such essential that without them you will not feel a day as a day at all !! Do you feel the same for every food you eat or drink daily, except water? If you are taking rice or wheat everyday as your main course food, then if you are not able to intake rice or wheat for a day or two or even three, then do you feel miserable and sick? As if the days are not days at all? Or maybe you will have some headache or loss of work efficiency? Well it is true that we all need energy to survive and work, and in most cases bodies do not have much objection on the choice of source of that energy, till they are considered as legitimate food items. You can get it from rice, or wheat, or pulses, or vegetables and fruits and many other such food alternatives. That means whatever we are likely to consider as our food alternatives are not usually too much of habit building or we do not show much of dependency syndrome on them till we get happy alternatives. But caffeine is neither our macronutrient nor our micronutrient, but still we usually exhibit a very abnormal level of dependency syndrome on that compound and substances that are potential sources of this compound, just like the tea and the coffee. And exactly this point of caffeine and hence the tea and the coffee is enough to raise much concern and suspicion as a substance of daily usage. Afterall we all know that substance dependency (and abuse) is not a very healthy affair of human life, and that substance can be anything starting from caffeine to alcohol and there are much higher levels to these. In this regard, I would also like to put some very serious questions on the substance like caffeine. There are many researches currently on the effect of caffeine and they do find many good effects as well. And it is so obvious, after all a substance can have some good effects as well besides bad effects, because we have no reason to believe that a substance has to have all bad effects and no good effects at all. Despite these researches, few questions are unanswered. All the researches are usually carried on short term effects of the consumption of caffeine in tea and coffee. But there is not much light on the effects of long term input of the substance in our system. Every medicine has a short term benefit on our system and that is why they are called medicines and we intake them when required. But that short term benefits do not guarantee equal long term benefits over prolonged usage. And in most cases we notice that such prolonged abuse of medicinal compounds generate more adverse effects with time than the speculated good effects. Moreover, one very important question also remained unanswered. What can be the withdrawal effects of caffeine after a prolonged usage of it? As long as we intake a substance then it can be generating some positive health benefits, but if the substance is as habit building as caffeine then there arises a big question on withdrawal. Just for example, since caffeine is an effective sports performance enhancer, so a sportsmans using it regularly on a long term basis is sure to develop dependency. And if after a period of say 10 years, the sportsman due to some reason opts to stop the intake of caffeine then what kind of withdrawal effects can he expect to get? Will he get back his natural and normal sports performance again ever? How much are the possibilities of developing other and secondary withdrawal negative effects? I can ask many more such questions and perhaps most of them have no answers. So I would never suggest or advocate for long term use of any substance that does not fall in the chart of our natural food chart and that can generate any kind of unhealthy dependencies on long term use. If you consider caffeine as a good medicinal herb, then it is better to consume it just like other medicinal herbs on a short term basis and only when and where required. Now let us enter into the use and benefits of caffeine and hence tea and coffee for our studies. Before going into the details of tea and coffee, let me discuss a bit about the caffeine, which is the central focus on any question regarding tea and coffee. Though there are other compounds also that play their roles in our biological system, but caffeine takes most of the focus. |
Caffeine has many beneficial uses for us. Many recent studies are showing it to be effective against certain cancer cells. It also acts as a vasodilator which makes it good in certain heart conditions. But here I will concentrate my discussion on benefits and uses that are more directly related to studies and academic performances.
1. Caffeine as an Energy Provider
Well this energy is not exactly the energy our body gets by consuming food. That kind of energy is easily available in any carbohydrate loaded food.
Fatigue can be of many types. Two most important types are muscular fatigue and nervous fatigue. Muscular fatigue is easy to overcome by loading some quick carbs like glucose or other simple sugars. Combination of simple sugars and complex sugars can give you a pretty long run in terms of muscular energy up to the limit of your muscular endurance.
But fatigue of nerves is not that easy to treat. There are also different types of nerve fatigues. One such known as synaptic fatigue is not possible to overcome by just loading the nerve cell with carbs. Then you need some kind of nervous stimulant that will again start firing your synapses by temporarily overcoming the state of synaptic depression.
Though such stimulants cannot make your nerves fire for too long, because the real rejuvenator of your nerves are natural processes like rest, happiness, tranquil, etc. But any strong stimulant can make your nerves fire from the state of fatigue at least for a temporary phase of time. Caffeine is such a stimulant. Though it is not too strong one, but strong enough to make you feel the difference.
So when you are pretty tired, and still you need to carry on, then a shot of caffeine can work pretty good. And if you take it combined with carbohydrates then that will give a real boost in your energy level for a certain time period.
In this regard I would like to add one more point. Caffeine with food and specially with carbohydrates works much better than caffeine alone in the question of energy and stimulation. Hence coffee or tea with milk and sugar works better than their black counterparts. But it is a must to avoid those energy drinks which pack caffeine with only a very high shot of simple carbs and nothing else. They do more harm to you in the long term. It is always better to take caffeine with food which will usually contain a balanced ratio of simple carbs and complex carbs as well as some protein and fat.
2. Caffeine for Concentration
Caffeine is known to increase concentration and decrease distraction during studies or any work that needs a lot of concentration. It can help to boost some cognitive functions of the brain to some extent for a short period of time.
But these positive effects are for a short span of time and can be summarized under the category of temporary enhancement of alertness. But these temporary benefits also have their respective payloads or negatives.
Some studies show that caffeine has a detrimental or negative effect on the grey matter of the human brain. If the consumption period of caffeine is temporary then these changes are usually temporary and reversible. But if the consumption is long and continuous then it can create changes that are more permanent.
So naturally it will be intelligent to use caffeine for a well-planned short period of time in order to harvest its medicinal properties and discard its nasty side-effects like any other medicinal compound.
3. Caffeine can Improve Sleep Performances
You must be thinking that I am kidding as till now caffeine has got a bad name when it comes to the question of sleep.
Yes of course it has to be against sleep as it is a nervous stimulant and enhancer of mental alertness. These all functions are just opposite to your sleeping dynamics.
But I am giving you another case to think on. Suppose for a period of time you are exerting your body and mind vigorously and spending a lot of energy on something. Then have you noticed that after some period of time, you are bound to feel more tired and more exhausted to badly need a dose of rest through sleep.
Likewise, when we consume caffeine, then for a period of time the brain and nerves overworks and then after the span of action is over then you need either of the two things – either another cup of caffeine to carry on or just a dose of sleep. Usually we opt for another dose of caffeine because we feel it more important to carry on at the cost of sleep or rest deprivation. This is our negative approach with caffeine rather than negativity of caffeine itself.
Exactly that is why it is usually advised to not to take any caffeinated drink a few hours before sleep. And the quantity of caffeine intake also matters a lot into this mechanism. Lesser the quantity, more quickly will diminish the boosting effects of caffeine and sooner will make you feel the need for rest or sleep. But we usually make mistakes in the calculation of time and quantity both in the case of usage of caffeine.
But at the end of this point I would like to ask one question. Will it be intelligent enough to surrender our long-term natural sleeping patterns in the hand of a substance compound like caffeine? If not then we should abstain ourselves from long-term consumption of caffeinated drinks whether in the morning or in the evening irrespectively.
4. Caffeine can Help in Memory
Caffeine shows some properties for enhancing brain functions and hence tends to improve or maintain memory. But these effects are under studies and also found to be more temporary in nature than permanent.
Perhaps the increased alertness and synaptic energy also tend to increase better nerve connection development which affects the memory positively. But long-term continuous usage can have detrimental or negative effects more than the positives.
In certain medical conditions related to memory and brain function degeneration like the Alzheimer caffeine can act as a preventive or partially curative medicinal compound. But do we use thousands of other medicinal compounds known to us in our daily diet protocol?
So these are some of the important benefits of caffeine in our studies and academic as well as professional life. And by now you must have realised that daily consumption of caffeine in any form is not at all a very good choice for the brain and also overall health.
Natural performances and wellbeing of our biological systems are known as the state of homeostasis. And the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, etc. are inclusive in the natural domain or circuit of our homeostasis. Also the family relationships that impart psychological or mental essentials like love, affection, confidence, etc. also are inclusive in our natural domain of homeostasis.
But anything that is out of our natural domain of homeostasis creates an artificial or synthetic homeostasis if included into our daily living protocol. You can also say that condition as conditioned or programmed homeostasis. Any substance or agent that takes charge of your wellbeing which essentially does not belong to the domain of our natural homeostasis are bound to create negative side-effects in some way or other at some point of time. Hence it will be always a good choice or intelligent choice to keep away from any long-term dependencies on any such substances or agents.
But caffeine is obviously a medicinal herbal substance which we can use when and where required. But regular use of it is not a choice. But unfortunately tea and coffee are among the most popular beverages in this world.
It is true that this world is full of agents and influences that tend to affect or break our homeostasis or holistic wellbeing. Also with passing days the competition of living is getting higher and higher. And that is invariably generating an abnormal level of stress and strain on us. Moreover our natural domain of homeostasis like the air, water, food and relationships etc. all are nowadays polluted and adulterated which is destroying our wellbeing continuously. Under such conditions developing habits or tendencies on substances or agents in an urge to regain or maintain homeostasis is not a very uncommon phenomena. But we should understand that this either doesn’t actually pay. We cannot substitute or modify the natural rules on our terms and conditions however hard we try. The only way is to find ways to maintain our natural homeostasis as much as we can.
So as this world order of today is promoting usage of tea and coffee multiple times on a daily basis but that is absolutely not an intelligent or healthy choice. Even for studies also, we need to search and find out more natural and better options which can make our performances better and stable in respect to the long-term.
But in case you really need to take either tea or coffee as you need some caffeine in your system then what can be the better choice? The tea or the coffee?
For most this is a question of taste and personal preference. But ideally this should not have been the case. Can you imagine that we will ask the doctor to write the prescription according to our taste and personal preference!!
Both tea and coffee are actually herbal medicinal drinks or a tonic in better sense. A tonic to help you when your mind and nerves are too exhausted or depressed. When you forcefully need to carry on even if you are absolutely unable to do so.
For a student the best application of such tonic is during exams. Exams are events that neither we feel easy with nor we can avoid it. And in most cases, the student will be terribly stressed and exhausted during the time around exams. That is one ideal situation where a caffeine tonic like tea or coffee can help a lot to get rescued.
Tea and coffee both have got enough caffeine content to refresh and rejuvenate you for a while. But usually tea has less caffeine than coffee. Caffeinated tea also has two major types, one known as black tea and the other as green tea. There are other non-caffeinated teas like some herbal tea, but in this article I would not discuss them as here we are focussing on caffeinated tea and coffee. I will leave the herbal teas for another article in future.
Tea and coffee both are useful in their own ways at respectively appropriate situations. So it is hard to say which one scores over another. But in general green tea carries more health and medicinal benefits than the black tea or coffee.
Here by black tea I do not mean the liquor (or raw) tea which is prepared without milk. Many prefer tea in such a way. But usually tea and coffee are more beneficial when taken with healthy calories. So I will suggest them after a good meal with more than half filled stomach.
Also I would suggest the “with-milk” preparation for both the black tea and coffee. Only in some cases of green tea, milk can be omitted. And there are people who are intolerant to milk, may be due to indigestion or allergy. They have to take all forms of tea and coffee without the milk.
Now let me discuss a bit of comparative studies between tea and coffee. I am picking some common factors that are more relevant to the purpose of studies and energy boosting for our purpose of study right now.
| Factor | Tea | Coffee |
|---|---|---|
| Caffeine Content | Tea has a lower caffeine content than coffee. Hence tea is less nervous agitation causing than coffee and it is more soothing and calm in effect. According to USDA food nutrition database average caffeine content of tea is around 11mg/100gm (USDA – US Department of Agriculture) | Coffee contains a much higher level of caffeine which makes it stronger than tea in respect to energy booster and CNS stimulator. But the effect of coffee is more agitative and restless. According to USDA food nutrition database average caffeine content of coffee is around 40mg/100gm |
| Energy Booster | Tea has much lower caffeine content. So naturally dopamine release is much lesser in tea. Instead tea has some polyphenols like L-Theanine which makes it a powerful antistress and relaxing agent. Thus the energizing effects of tea are much soothing and gentle as well as better with respect to health. The energy boost of tea is smooth and soothing. | Coffee on one hand releases dopamine to stimulate the nerves and on the other hand block the sleep mechanism. Dopamine stimulates one very fast and increases both the activities of nerves and heart rate. High content of caffeine ensures high release of dopamine. The energy boost of coffee is high and abrupt. |
| Speed of Action | Tea is slower in action than coffee. Thus it does not have the instantaneous arousing effect like coffee, but it has a more lasting and soothing effect on the nerves | Coffee is of much higher speed than tea in action. Coffee’s effect is almost instantaneous as the total caffeine content of coffee is released in the blood much faster. |
| Dependence or Addiction Levels | Tea has less addictive properties than coffee. | Coffee has got more addictive strength. It’s high caffeine content per serving and high dopamine release are important factors that make it more addictive. |
| Sleep Disturbances | Tea is more soothing and less sleep disturbance causing. | Coffee has an excess amount of caffeine which already stimulates and agitates the nerves. Moreover it contains adenosine blockers which blocks the sleep mechanisms. |
Thus you can see that tea is more beneficial than coffee. Though coffee is great for high energy kicks which are very instantaneous, but that does more harm than tea. But sometimes coffee also becomes very useful. As during exam time, you may need a very high energy boost that coffee is easily capable of giving than tea.
Coffee not only gives you energy but also boosts your brain functions such as cognitive performance and memory better than tea. So when you are engaged in a work where the usefulness of cognitive functions become critical, and you also need a boost of energy to carry on with the work, then coffee becomes a better choice than the tea. But you must be aware that coffee has got more side effects than tea. So misuse of coffee on a regular basis is not a very intelligent choice as I suppose.
I will conclude this article with a few words on tea. I have already discussed that tea is a better alternative than coffee in usual conditions. But tea also has different variations. Two of the most popular variations are black tea and green tea.
Green tea is another variation of tea, which is currently getting very popular worldwide among health conscious tea drinkers. Green tea has a lot of health benefits and is more healthy than black tea and coffee.
It has much lower caffeine content compared to caffeine and even black tea.
One standard serving (230-240 ml) of green tea contains between 30-50 mg of caffeine.
One standard serving (230-240 ml) of black tea contains between 47-90 mg caffeine.
One standard serving (230-240 ml) of coffee contains 95 mg or above of caffeine.
Both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) defined some regulations on caffeine intake as follows:
Maximum total intake of caffeine per day is not more than 400 mg.
Maximum intake of caffeine in a single dose in not more than 200 mg or 3mg/kg of adult body weight.