Drug of choice: Coffee

Jenna GibsonI want to tell you about the substance that fuels my life as a college student. Don’t worry – it’s perfectly legal. I’m simply talking about coffee: the magic elixir that gets me through each day. Not only does coffee help you function in the morning, it possesses many health benefits. To quote the character Lorelai Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham on the hit show Gilmore Girls: “I can’t stop drinking the coffee. I stop drinking the coffee, I stop doing the standing and the walking and the words putting into a sentence doing.”
Coffee could be a lifesaver. For all you coffee fanatics, here is some exciting news.

A recent study from the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health states that coffee, decaf or regular, could lower the risk of mortality. In an article published by CNN, Ming Ding, a doctoral student in the Harvard nutrition department, said: “The lower risk of mortality is consistent with our hypothesis that coffee consumption could be good for you (because) we have published papers showing that coffee consumption is associated with lower risk of Type 2 diabetes and (heart) disease.” Ding and her colleagues also discovered that “coffee drinkers were about 10 percent less likely to die of heart disease. They also were between 9 percent and 37 percent less likely to die of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementia.” Studies also have shown that people who drank at least one cup of coffee a day had around a 30 percent lower suicide rate.

In the CNN article, Ding said, “It is not clear whether chemicals in coffee have a direct effect on mental health or whether people who drink a lot of coffee have higher rates of employment or certain lifestyles that are associated with lower suicide rates.” Along with reducing your risk of heart disease, coffee also provides you with increased attention and memory, increased physical performance and muscle recovery and decreased risk of liver disease. If that’s not enough to convince avid coffee haters to give coffee a try, it also provides you with benefits unrelated to health. Nothing says coffee like getting up at 5 in the morning. By drinking coffee, you get to drink out of your favorite mug, warm your hands, people-watch in coffee shops and overall be a happier person.

There is nothing a good cup of coffee cannot fix. With that said, do not overdo it. An excess of anything never is good. Even coffee should be had in moderation – except during finals week, that is. So now you know my secret to longer life and late-night study sessions. As Lorelai Gilmore always said, “What I need now is lots and lots of coffee.” You know you want it – go enjoy a cup.

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