Have you made new year resolutions only to find out that your scheduled pre-work jog doesn’t jibe well with dark, cold mornings, or that your resolve to learn something new is no challenge to the lure of home, comfy clothes, and your favorite throw on a chilly, dark evening? You are not alone! It’s almost a cruel joke that we pick the toughest time of the year, mentally and physically, to tackle long-cherished personal goals. Thankfully, coffee is here to help!
Calm, focused, and energized
Distraction, stress, and fatigue are prime resolution killers. It is hard to create new habits and change your modus operandi when you are not feeling your best. Thankfully, drinking coffee before tackling a change helps counter less-than-helpful feelings by perking up both your body and your mood. Coffee does this by facilitating the release of dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline to the area of the brain responsible for mood regulation. This natural combo of feel-good chemicals boosts your mood, improves cognition, and even reduces the risk of depression. While these feel-good chemicals are kicking in, your sleep-inducing adenosine receptors are being blocked, warding off sleepiness and preventing your body from developing a stress response, such as a bad mood, anxiety, depression, or cognitive confusion. Bottom line: when that list of resolutions hangs overhead like an ominous cloud, grab a cup of coffee, start drinking, and simply blow it away.
Ready for reps
Sip, sprint, smile, repeat. Sound … not quite right? Well, it is! In addition to boosting your pre-workout mood, drinking coffee before exercising makes your workout easier and more effective. A pre-workout cup of coffee helps fends off muscle fatigue and reduces inflammation ensuring your body feels good heading into the workout. Performance wise, that starter cup helps increase your reaction time, eases the potential mental boredom of reps, and increases your endurance and your physical performance by up to 11-12%…and the good news doesn’t stop here.
According to studies, a pre-workout cup of coffee boosts your resting metabolic rate by up to 15% for up to three hours post-workout and increases muscle burn by 66% for up to four hours if you pair that pre-high-intensity workout coffee with some carbs. Your pre-workout cup also helps keep your appetite down later in the day. According to a study by the Journal of Applied Physiology, study participants who caffeinated pre-workout ate 72 calories less later in the day than those who worked out caffeine-free.
To sum up, drinking coffee makes change and motion easier by lifting your mood, increasing your tolerance, and energizing your mind and body.
For source information, please visit our Coffee and Health page.
If you enjoyed this entry, you may also like our Wellness Series.
Coffee with the Queen 
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