Coffee has been enjoyed for centuries. There is a good reason for it. Coffee and aging have a pretty harmonious relationship.
No matter how you use it, coffee provides anti-aging benefits and extend your life. These are definitely worth exploring if you aren’t already a coffee lover. Let’s learn how coffee can help you beat the average statistics, by making your life more youthful and longer!
Coffee’s Powerful Antioxidants
You may hear the word antioxidant dancing around when people talk about health. It is for a purpose. Antioxidants provide essential support to our bodies. This is crucial for anyone with a high-stress life, especially those living in a chaotic industrial city. Antioxidants occur naturally in raw coffee beans.
What are Anti-Oxidants?
Antioxidants are powerful healing agents for our bodies. They assist in preventing or reducing the damage of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are mega cell damagers. These molecules disrupt cells and can damage our DNA. This threatens our health!
Everyone has a number of free radicals in their bodies. Free radicals emerge from two primary sources. First, the natural metabolic process of our bodies. This is why, as we age, our chance of disease gradually increases. Then, there is also exposure to pollutants and carcinogens. Anything from air pollutants to cigarette smoke can increase the free radicals in your body.
When the number of free radicals in your body rises, your body cannot exactly handle them. This results in oxidative stress. This stress is known to potentially lead to a plethora of ailments. To be specific, untamed, and large amounts of free radicals increase the chances of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, stroke, respiratory diseases, immune deficiency, emphysema, and Parkinson’s disease. These diseases could unfortunately cut life spans short.
But, hope is not lost! This is why antioxidants are incredibly important. They fight these free radicals. And, they come in a variety of forms. Each form has special powers. This keeps our bodies healthy, happy, and active!
Coffee and Anti-Oxidants
Coffee is plentiful in all sorts of antioxidants. Scientists found roughly a thousand types of antioxidants in raw coffee beans. Following the roasting process, hundreds more develop as well. Of course, the numbers do vary per coffee type. But, the bounty of antioxidants remains the same.
Most importantly, coffee uniquely contains chlorogenic acid. This antioxidant compound is mostly responsible for coffee’s naturally bitter flavor. Yet, chlorogenic acid is a mini superhero. It combats inflammation and infections. It also contributes to lower blood pressure. Lower blood pressure reduces your risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Pairing coffee with other anti-oxidant rich foods will keep you feeling energetic and young. This is especially easy to do for breakfast; berries and avocados are crazy full of potent antioxidants as well.
Coffee For Skin Health
When it comes to visible aging, our skin is everything! Our skin reflects our health, both inside and out. Fortunately, coffee promotes anti-aging and maintains skin health in a variety of ways.
Natural Ant-Aging Properties
You can reap several anti-aging benefits from coffee, both by drinking it and applying it to your cosmetics routine. Learning the extraordinary skin-health perks of coffee will inspire you to add coffee to your daily routine in more ways than one.
A simple cup of coffee is filled with astonishing anti-aging properties. Collagen is a necessary protein to maintain skin and bone structure. Coffee is plentiful in caffeic acid. This acid is not related to caffeine, despite its name. Nonetheless, caffeic acid can increase collagen levels and slow the premature aging of skin cells. This helps to retain skin elasticity, keeping skin looking fresh and youthful!
UV- Ray Protection
The sun is strong! Whenever we are outside, our skin interacts with the sun’s strong UV rays. The melanin in our skin absorbs these rays. This can cause skin damage, varying from simple wrinkling to dangerous skin cancers.
Coffee’s incredible nutritional profile defends us from skin cancer. The radiation from UV rays is the leading cause of skin cancer. The potent antioxidants in coffee strengthen our immune response to these rays. Even more so, coffee is plentiful in B vitamins. In particular, it has niacin. This vitamin protects our bodies from nonmelanoma skin cancers and growths, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
Beyond Just Coffee Drinking
The anti-aging advantages of coffee go beyond just sipping a cup of joe. Coffee also can be added to your beauty routine. This is especially useful if you are not much of a coffee drinker.
Have you ever felt ground coffee beans in your hands? The small granules are gentle but rough. This quality makes coffee an excellent exfoliator. The grinds do not dissolve in water, keeping up during any beauty routine.
Coffee exfoliation is a simple way to keep skin soft and beautiful. Exfoliation in general offers several benefits. First, exfoliation unclogs pores. This rids skins of dirt and oil, preventing terrible breakouts. Also, exfoliation stimulates circulation and cell turn over. This makes skin glow. Finally, a proper exfoliation routine increases collagen synthesis. This tightens skin and keeps it youthful.
The powerful antioxidants in coffee are more active than ever in a scrub. They combat unnecessary skin inflammation. This reduces water retention. Water retention is what causes us to look puffy or swollen. These coffee antioxidants therefore dehydrate and shrink fat cells. This minimizes the appearance of cellulite, eczema, and even scarring.
Coffee in your beauty routine is also a great way to increase sun protection. Applying a coffee scrub or mask, especially on high UV-index days, can protect your skin and reduce your risk of wrinkles.
Quality coffee scrubs and masks are a fantastic way to prevent and reduce the presence of certain skin conditions. For a simple DIY coffee scrub, check out these coffee beauty scrubs suited for all skin types!
Coffee Makes Us Happy
When you are feeling happy, you are less stressed! Maintaining a positive and relaxed life is important for our overall health. Coffee continues to promote this for centuries.
We all have heard at least once or twice that stress can kill. Stress makes our bodies tense and uncomfortable. It can make us feel ‘heavy.’ Stress can cause migraines and body aches. It also increases our susceptibility to hypertension, which makes us more likely to have strokes and major heart problems. Stress leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms as well, like excessive smoking and drinking.
Luckily, coffee challenges stress. This is due to the chemical makeup of coffee. It offers several benefits that influence optimism and our overall mood.
First of all, coffee has a direct effect on our mood. Boosting your mood every day is very important! The fascinating chlorogenic acid found in coffee is a natural mood enhancer. Studies show that optimism leads to a longer life. Positive emotions interact with the physiological behavior of our brains. The stress hormone cortisol fluctuates depending on our emotions. Keeping these emotions balanced and positive help regulate inflammation and blood vessel function.
Coffee, as we know, contains caffeine. This is a good chunk as to why many of us drink it! Nonetheless, caffeine does something special for our brains. It triggers a boost in dopamine production. Dopamine is a feel-good chemical messenger that makes us feel motivated and more attentive. It also is responsible for our increased feelings of desire and pleasure. Combined with its mood-enhancing qualities, coffee can be a daily dose of optimism!
The Power of a Coffee Break
Coffee culture has been going on for a long time. It is an opportunity to breathe and take a moment to enjoy life. This ultimately relieves stress from our lives.
Taking a simple break to enjoy your coffee improves your mental agility and mood. Stimulating your brain with coffee and a conversation can lead to better concentration and memory. This leads to better performance in all life’s activities.
Coffee also promotes socialization. Coffee culture has existed for centuries. Many of the world’s great thinkers were notorious for lingering in coffee houses. There is a good reason for it! Having an active and positive social life lowers your risk of cardiovascular diseases. It also decreases depression and boosts your overall mental health. With a more optimistic perspective and active brain, you can maintain a healthy mind and body.
Several countries today require coffee breaks in the workplace. Places like Sweden and Finland encourage workers to take a moment to relax with their coffee. Relaxation means less stress. And, less stress can lead to a longer life.
When craving coffee next, think of how valuable a coffee break is! It is a break from the usual life stressors. It is just another way that coffee can boost your health and slow your aging process.
