Is Coffee Good Or Bad When Studying

Is it good to have coffee before an exam?

There is no magic formula and if we want to obtain the best results, we will have to study, a lot! 

That is why I did not want to start this blog without paying a small tribute to my faithful friend and colleague.

That friend who has accompanied me, like so many others, after long nights of study before an exam and review mornings in the cafeteria next to the university. Yes, I mean coffee! 

But how much do we know about the coffee symbiosis – studies? 

Does drinking coffee help you study? What are the effects of coffee in the study? Is it good to have coffee before an exam? Many times we think it could be good, but in reality… is coffee good or bad for studying?

Effects of coffee while studying

Who has not prepared a coffee for an exam?

When we know that we have to spend more hours awake than we should because we have to study or finish a job to deliver the next morning, we usually think about having a good cup of coffee to wake us up and activate us again. 

That is because coffee contains caffeine that stimulates our nervous system, which causes our alert level to increase as well as the ability to maintain attention, in addition to reducing fatigue and increasing mental alertness.

Benefits of drinking coffee to study

Coffee acts to increase concentration and focus

Coffee stimulates our alertness and concentration, that helps us to be focused in order to learn new concepts or be attentive when reading a text.

As Professor Holly Taylor points out, “caffeine has become the most widely consumed psychostimulant in the world.” 

In 2012, Taylor carried out a study (Caffeine enhances real-world language processing: Evidence from a proofreading task), together with his team, in which they investigated the effects of caffeine when performing a language task. 

The arousal associated with caffeine stimulates information to be processed better.

Drinking coffee helps to study by improving the consolidation of concepts

Short-term memory is the memory that is activated when learning new concepts and the fact that the alert state is activated when drinking coffee at the time of studying, allows us to retain more information for a short period and makes it easier to understand.

According to a 2014 study by Johns Hopkins University, published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, 200 milligrams of caffeine helps to remember what was studied.

In the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDCMUCeohrwR6-fO1EMk8FkJrlzw&v=quvKBJKoRgo&feature=emb_rel_end

Michael Yassa tells us how drinking coffee helps to study, consuming 200 mg of caffeine after studying to help remember the content of what we have studied.

Perception of greater physical and mental energy when drinking coffee

Coffee is energizing, which gives us a perception of greater physical and mental energy, thanks to the stimulation of the nervous system.

This effect reduces fatigue and tiredness and increases energy, stamina and agility. So coffee keeps the body awake, more resistant to fatigue and sleep.

Coffee reduces headaches

It seems that in addition, coffee helps fight headaches thanks to its vasodilator effects. However, you have to be careful since excessive caffeine consumption can cause the opposite effect and we can suffer severe headaches. As well as the abrupt stop in the consumption of caffeine, it can also cause a headache.

And any of these effects can harm us when studying since the headache will not allow us to concentrate. 

Disadvantages of drinking coffee to study

Nervousness and anxiety associated with high doses of caffeine

We already know that excesses are not good. And drinking too much coffee isn’t either.

And it is that some of the advantages of coffee, can revert to the opposite effect: if we abuse caffeine it can cause nervousness and anxiety that will prevent us from concentrating.

 In addition to accelerating breathing and heart rate, the stimulating effect of coffee when taken in high doses causes the heart to react faster. 

Effects that do not complement each other in a favorable way, if what we need is to be relaxed before an exam.

Too much coffee causes insomnia

When we drink more cups of coffee than we should, it can also affect the hours of sleep and the quality of it.

To process the information that we have acquired during the long hours of study, our brain needs to rest in order to assimilate the concepts learned and for this, it is necessary to be able to sleep well.

As stated by researcher Matthew Walker from the University of Berkeley, brain waves increase the ability to learn and retain information about what we have studied, while we are sleeping. 

 And he goes on to say that: “we not only need to sleep after learning to consolidate what we have memorized, but we also need it before we learn, so that we can recharge and absorb new information the next day.”

 Drinking coffee to study at night can make it difficult to fall asleep since its stimulating effect takes several hours to disappear from our body. What can cause us to wake up more during the hours of sleep.

In addition, a 2015 study indicates that the effects of coffee can influence the circadian clock.

When we drink more cups of coffee than we should, it can also affect the hours of sleep and the quality of it.

To process the information that we have acquired during the long hours of study, our brain needs to rest in order to assimilate the concepts learned and for this, it is necessary to be able to sleep well.

As stated by researcher Matthew Walker from the University of Berkeley, brain waves increase the ability to learn and retain information about what we have studied, while we are sleeping. 

 And he goes on to say that: “we not only need to sleep after learning to consolidate what we have memorized, but we also need it before we learn, so that we can recharge and absorb new information the next day.”

 Drinking coffee to study at night can make it difficult to fall asleep since its stimulating effect takes several hours to disappear from our body. What can cause us to wake up more during the hours of sleep.

In addition, a 2015 study indicates that the effects of coffee can influence the circadian clock.

Coffee can cause heartburn and has laxative effects.

When we are studying at night, one of the most helpful methods is to drink coffee for a 10 test.  

We want to be so focused and awake that we forget that drinking coffee to study can also cause adverse effects such as heartburn (as was found in a study in 2017). 

This can also cause nausea, dizziness and even vomiting when drinking too much coffee. In addition, coffee has laxative properties and can cause diarrhea.  

These adverse effects of coffee, believe me, are not very appetizing if you are in the middle of exams …

Coffee addiction

Caffeine is a methylxanthine alkaloid with a bitter taste and can be found in coffee and tea drinks. It is the most widely used psychoactive drug that stimulates the central nervous and autonomic system in the world.

Although the risk is minimal, it can be classified as a substance that causes dependence. And if consumed in excess, caffeine can lead to addiction. 

Some experts think that consuming more than 400 mg of caffeine can create both physical and psychological dependence, although it will also depend on each person, since cases of dependence have also been detected in lower doses.

And the coffee withdrawal syndrome can appear when we stop drinking it. Some of its symptoms are:

• Headache
• Irritability
• Anxiety
• State of lethargy
• Constipation
• Depression
• Lack of concentration
• Nasal congestion
• Nausea and vomiting
• Dizziness
• Muscle pain
• Abnormalities in the heart rhythm

As we see excessive consumption of coffee while we study it can have unwanted consequences such as heartburn, laxative effect, alterations in the heart rhythm and in the nervous system and anxiety that can make the study difficult, especially when combined with the tension and stress that an exam itself causes.

Is coffee good or bad for studying?

To answer the question of whether coffee is good or bad to study, the key is in the amount of coffee that is consumed and how that amount of caffeine affects our body.

How much coffee to drink to study?

According to EFSA, the, the European Food Safety Agency maximum recommended coffee consumption is 400 milligrams of caffeine per day (equal to 5 coffees). 

However, this limit is reduced to 200 milligrams if the coffee is consumed with some type of alcohol or stimulant drink. 

Each of us has a different tolerance to coffee, since sensitivity to caffeine will be different in each person. 

Depending on the body weight, the physical complexion as well as the frequency and the amount of coffee consumption in each one will affect differently. In addition to the quality of the coffee, the way it is prepared, the variety of the bean and its processing.

Caffeine can not only be found in coffee nor is it the cause of all the effects that are attributed to coffee.

This compound has other names, one of the examples is theine, depending on the plant in which it is extracted. Therefore, caffeine can also be consumed in cocoa, tea, energy drinks, capsules or caffeine tablets. 

So if you don’t like coffee (or don’t want to consume it) but want to get its benefits, you can always opt for, for example, a tea with lemon or a milk with cocoa and cinnamon. 

 In addition to containing caffeine, coffee is a mixture of many bioactive compounds, although many of these are lost in the roasting and brewing process.

 The scientific community accepts that moderate coffee consumption does not have to have harmful effects on health and can even be beneficial. However, coffee consumption must be moderate.

 Yes I admit it. While I am writing this post I am doing it in the company of my faithful friend: a cup of good coffee …

And you, are you more like tea or coffee to study?

Everything described in this article is merely informative. It is not intended to replace the consultation of a nutritionist or doctor. If you feel any type of discomfort, we advise you to consult a doctor so that he can indicate if it is due to coffee consumption.