Before you can say your goodbyes and pack up your room for the summer, you must first complete the most tedious task of the semester: finals. This means no sleep, lots of stress, and endless cups of coffee. While caffeine is the reason for most student’s obsession with coffee, it actually contains many other ingredients that can do a lot more for you than just pull you through an all-nighter. Here are 5 reasons why coffee is healthier than you think…
1. It decreases your risk of heart failure.
Heart failure results from a weakened heart which can’t pump enough blood through the body. Drinking one or two cups of coffee a day can strengthen the heart muscles and decrease the risk of heart failure.
2. It protects your liver.
Coffee has been shown to have a protective effect on the liver. Liver enzyme levels are much more normal in coffee drinkers than in non-coffee drinkers. This effect has been observed with both regular and decaf coffee.
3. It strengthens your DNA.
DNA strands naturally start to break, but if they aren’t properly repaired by cells breakage can lead to cancer or tumors. Dark roast coffee decreases the level of breakage in DNA.
4. It makes you less likely to get Alzheimer’s Disease.
It only takes two cups of coffee a day to provide the body with the proper level of caffeine to protect against the development of Alzheimer’s. Research has shown that women age 65 and older who drank two cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s and dementia in general.
5. It decreases your risk of colon cancer.
Both decaf and regular coffee drinkers are 26 percent less likely to develop colon cancer.
So, when you’re grinding away at the library this finals season, questioning whether or not you should grab that second cup of coffee, the answer is most definitely yes.