How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?
Recent studies have shown that some people benefit from having some caffeine before a workout, but how much caffeine should they take and in what form? Caffeine occurs naturally in a lot of forms that are quite popular. That cup of coffee, tea or cola soft drink contain caffeine, so does that bar of chocolate. Caffeine acts as a stimulant in the body, which is one reason people use coffee to help stay awake. It does have some drawbacks, including the potential to increase both blood pressure and heart rate.
There’s been a number of studies that show caffeine may provide a benefit for people who exercise.
While there’s no concrete agreement, many studies show that consuming caffeine before a workout may boost your endurance, which in turn may produce a longer and more productive workout session. The reason why that happens is debated. It may cause the body to use fat stores as fuel instead of sugar stored in the body or trick the brain into feeling less tired. If you need a cup of coffee in the morning as a jump start, you know it may also boost your enthusiasm to get going and get tough.
How much caffeine does it take to get those effects?
Studies show that for the average person, between 200 and 350 mg helped people boost their endurance. How much is that when you translate that to cups of coffee, hot chocolate, chocolate bars, cola or tea? The average cup of coffee contains between 90 and100 mg of caffeine. A milk chocolate bar has about the same amount as a cup of decaffeinated cup of coffee, while dark chocolate contains between 5 and 20 mg of caffeine per ounce and can be higher. A cup of hot chocolate has about 25 mg of caffeine, while a cola has between 30 and 50 mg of caffeine. Two cups of coffee before working out is approximately 200 mg, the amount shown to improve endurance.
Caffeine isn’t the answer for everyone.
Caffeine affects everyone differently. Some people can guzzle pots of coffee without noticing any difference, while others have a cut and feel jittery. In fact, studies show it can even affect the performance of those people in a negative way. Caffeine also acts like a diuretic, which can lead to dehydration due to frequent urination. It can have an adverse effect on your digestion, causing diarrhea and upset stomach.
- It can cause problems with the heart and nervous system, seizures, muscle tremors, insomnia and a rapid heartbeat.
- It’s hard to get too much caffeine from just drinking coffee for most people, but when you consider it’s in candy, medications—including pain relievers—and tea as well, it can add up.
- Avoid caffeine tablets or caffeine powder. Just 1/16 teaspoon of caffeine is the actual serving size. If you took just one teaspoon of caffeine powder in water, it would be like drinking 35 cans of Red Bull at once and have some grave side effects.
- Choosing tea or coffee for your pre workout caffeine can provide some health benefits. Coffee has some nutrients, like B vitamins and has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes. Tea, especially green tea, is loaded with antioxidants and can lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym
If you want a longer life, keep your body healthier. Your heart plays an important role in your overall health and ability to function. Making small changes for a healthier heart also improves other areas of your body and allows you to be more active, which improves your heart health even more. It’s all connected and continuous. It’s never too late to get started, but the older you are, the slower the changes will occur. It’s all about living healthy every day.
We provide nutritional guidance at Rising Fitness in Houston, TX. When people see fats in their nutritional plan, they are often surprised. In fact, many have been consuming low fat or no fat foods, which actually sabotages their weight loss. There are three main categories for fat, saturated, unsaturated and trans fats. Unsaturated fat is liquid at room temperature, while saturated fat is solid. Saturated and unsaturated fat are easily found in nature, but most trans fats are man-made with just a small amount naturally occurring.
As a society, we’re addicted to sugar. It seems like extra sugar is added to all processed foods. Approximately 80% of all food on the grocery shelf contains it. As a result, sugar related illnesses like type2 diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease have increased. Obesity has become the leading cause of preventable deaths. To combat that, artificial sweeteners have flooded the market and become almost as prevalent in diets as sugar. There is a problem. We may be replacing one health enemy for a new one. Could sugar actually be healthier?
Sometimes when you’re done with your daily responsibilities, you may feel totally stressed out and just want to watch TV or videos. While it might feel good to engulf yourself in the story, it won’t help you relieve the stress you feel. What should you do instead to relieve stress? The answer is simple, just workout. Try it sometime and you’ll see. It doesn’t have to be a traditional workout, just running up and down stairs or going for a brisk walk can help lower stress levels and make you feel great.
While it’s normal for children to run like wild animals when playing and be active, it’s not necessarily how it is today. We are a nation of screens and video games and kids are caught up in the technology. Today, we have to take an active role to ensure that our kids get the activity they need. We have to do the same as adults, since manual labor has been replaced by modern machinery. How do you teach kids to be healthy? It starts by being a good role model.
The minute you enter Rising Fitness in Houston, TX, you’ll realize that we’re different. We take a holistic approach to fitness that’s based on each person’s individual needs. If you’re already eating healthy, but have a difficult time with stress and don’t get nearly enough exercise, there’s no reason to focus on your diet. We talk to clients to find the best ways to help them. While the person with a healthy diet may get a few tips, we’ll focus more on the problems he or she faces, stress and a sedentary lifestyle.
If you’ve put your winter clothing to the back of your closet and started focusing on the more revealing summer attire, it’s one step toward getting ready for summer. If those clothes don’t quite fit right or show every bulge, you need to make some changes in your life so you can have that summer fun in the sun and enjoy every minute at the beach or pool. Getting ready for summer isn’t just about how you look, it’s also about how you feel and boosting your energy level.
If you’re tired of all those weight loss myths, magic diets and ridiculous “get thin quickly” schemes you find on the internet? Many of my clients at Rising Fitness in Houston, TX were and came to get sound advice that really worked. We use science-backed training and an individual approach. No two people are alike and that should be reflected in their weight loss program. Some gyms and trainers do a one size fits all approach, which doesn’t work for everyone.
