By Camelia Heins
The fragrant scent, the warm feeling, and the strong, but bitter, taste of coffee leaves you yearning for more. It starts with one cup, for a long night of cramming, and then turns into an addiction. Both a blessing and a curse, coffee for teens has its benefits and its drawbacks.
Pros:
Coffee has health benefits
Studies by Harvard researchers have shown that drinking coffee has a lower risk in getting type-two diabetes. Drinking coffee also reduces the risk for Alzheimer’s, liver cancer and having a stroke.
Coffee helps you stay awake
Whether you like your coffee black or filled to the brim with cream and sugar, it has one purpose: to keep you awake. For a teen doing homework at midnight, this can be the perfect solution to keep you awake. Coffee will always have your back.
Coffee doesn’t stunt your growth
Surprise! It’s a myth. Coffee doesn’t actually affect your growth as a teenager. According to Harvard Medical School, there is no evidence that drinking coffee has a correlation with stunted growth. So, pour a cup of Joe and drink on.
Cons:
Coffee can interfere with your sleep schedule
Drinking coffee should be carefully integrated into your schedule. If you drink coffee too late in the day, you’ll end up staying awake later than you want to. According to the Caffeine Informer, coffee’s effects last for 4-6 hours. So, try not to drink coffee later than 6 p.m. if you want to go to sleep at a reasonable time.
Coffee has its side effects
Some irritating side effects of drinking coffee include jittery or anxious feelings, an increased heart beat, nausea or vomiting, an upset stomach, headaches and bad breath. Limit your coffee consumption if these side effects continuously bother you.
Coffee is addictive
A simple cup of coffee can suddenly turn into two cups, then three and so on. Especially for teens, consistently drinking coffee, and other forms of caffeine in general, can cause addictive habits in the future.
