Living in a city like Vancouver, it’s hard not to miss walking a block without seeing a coffee shop. Infact, some blocks have cafe’s opening right across from each other, giving consumers a variety of choices.

But as some reports have shown, people today are consuming way too much coffee. Not only are caffeine in coffee, but in teas, colas, chocolate and in some over-the-counter drugs. The amount of caffeine you take in a day can quickly add up, so it’s good to keep an eye on your daily intake, especially if you’re suffering from physical problems such as urinary issues, heart disease, and anxiety.

With most of us living a fairly stressful life with everyone working a lot more harder and longer, we take in coffee to keep ourselves awake and pumped. But it comes with a price. Many undesirable effects like insomnia, irritability, tremors, headaches, reducing bone density and being too hyper can disrupt our lifestyle. Caffeine worsens stress by depleting your levels of B1 which is one of the ‘anti-stress’ vitamins. We’ve already seen some problems arising from energy drinks that have way too high contents of caffeine causing death.

It’s recommended to consume less than 100 mg per day. I find that I am so sensitive to caffeine that even a cup of Earl Grey Tea from Starbucks will keep me awake until 4 am – and insufficient sleep means more likely to feel tired and anxious the following day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying coffee is evil. I use to drink coffee with my hectic schedule, and loved drinking Latte’s and Cappuccino. It was really difficult fighting the temptation at first, and it comes up every now and then, but I’ve found a new love of Vanialla Rooibos Herbal Tea to keep me happy these days (which is caffeine-free).

It’ll be hard to avoid coffee or cut back when the one place to chat and hang out with friends (or business) are happening at coffee shops these days. And if you need 8 cups of coffee to keep you going around the clock to get everything done – perhaps it’s time to ‘wake up’ and think about making some changes to your overall lifestyle instead.
More info @ Health Canada