10 Coffee Facts That Will Keep You Awake

    Ahhh... Coffee... *sighs deeply* Coffee is a labor of love from farmers far and wide. It's a fuel for all-nighters and friendships and productivity. It stimulates your brain well enough to help you save lives. It's a warm hug in a cup. Also, it's a legitimate drug. In fact, it is considered as the most commonly used psychoactive drug in the world. In the US alone, over 3,351 metric tons of coffee are consumed on a daily basis. That's about four kilograms of coffee per person annually. Here are ten more facts you probably didn't know about coffee that would keep you awake for hours.

    Twila Bergania
    by Twila Bergania

    Community Contributor

    1. The most expensive coffees come from poop.

    Via world.time.com

    I know you've heard this before but you probably have very little idea how much civet coffee beans—those that come from cats and other animals like mongoose in Indonesia and palm civets in Malaysia and the Philippines—costs. In 2010, civet coffees sold up to $600 per pound. With $600 you can buy an iPhone unit or 117 pounds of Spam. Imagine trading 117 pounds of Spam for a pound of poop coffee... Yeah, you probably get the picture now.

    2. There's coffee everywhere.

    Via medicinenet.com

    There's coffee in your facial creams. There's coffee in your medicines. There's coffee in your Hershey's chocolate bar! Many anti-aging creams contain coffee too because it can ease away wrinkles and smoothen your skin! It also has detoxifying agents that can help decrease age spots to make your skin fairer. Some headache drugs also contain caffeine because it helps your in absorption. Did you know that a Midol pill contains 60 mg of caffeine? Oh and your chocolate bar actually contains about 30 mg of this magic potion!

    3. Coffee won't make you less drunk.

    Caffeine May Boost Alertness, but It Won't Get You Sober, Study Finds / Via webmd.com

    Think coffee can cure hangovers? Sorry, dude. While coffee can help in curing that pesky headache by making it easier for your brain to absorb pain killers, it still can't change the drunken state of your brain. Stimulants like caffeine just don't cancel out depressants like alcohol so in a way you're just adding more toxic for your body.

    4. It'll take more than six hours for half of your coffee's effect to wane.

    Via medicinenet.com

    For maximum effect, make your cup of Joe six to seven hours ahead. If you're caffeine-sensitive, however, you can tone that down to five or six hours. This is why it's not very smart to drink coffee in the afternoon (except of course if, like me, you have shifting work schedules, in which case coffee is your best buddy).

    5. Males and oldies are more sensitive to caffeine

    Via medicinenet.com

    Studies show that men drink more cups of coffee than women and because of this they get can get more sensitive to caffeine in time. Also, we become more coffee-sensitive as we get older because our bodies take longer to process caffeine.

    6. Children are drinking way more caffeine than they should.

    Via medicinenet.com

    Recent studies show that children are starting early on coffee these days. In fact, they are becoming the fastest growing population of caffeine consumers. Some kids are taking in caffeine at an early age of two while kids from 12 to 17 years old are reportedly taking in half of what regular adults consume through chocolates, gums, sodas and vending machine coffees—and Starbucks, most probably. Some kids in the US consume as much as 28 mg of caffeine daily that they start showing symptoms of ADHD!

    7. There's no such thing as caffeine addiction...

    Is Caffeine Addictive?—A Review of the Literature / Via informahealthcare.com

    But there is such a thing as caffeine dependence (and those are two very different terms). Though caffeine is considered a drug, you can't get addicted to it because it's basically a stimulant. Yeah, yeah, nicotine is a stimulant too and you can get addicted with that but that's a whole different case. When consumed in moderation on a daily basis—and by moderation we mean 300-500 mg per day which is about two cups of coffee—you can get tolerant or dependent to caffeine but not addicted.

    8. But even so, you can still experience withdrawal symptoms.

    Caffeine Withdrawal Is Now a Mental Disorder / Via newsfeed.time.com

    Yes, there IS a clinical condition called "caffeine withdrawal". Research shows that a person who consumes even just one cup of coffee every day can experience caffeine withdrawal if their coffee intake suddenly stops. Symptoms can range from mood swings to depression and nausea within 12 to 24 hours of your last coffee break. So if you're used to having your daily coffee intake, don't stop abruptly. Take it in smaller doses over a period of days.

    9. There's also such a thing as "caffeine overdose".

    Via healthline.com

    Just like everything else taken in extremes, you can definitely OD on coffee if you take too much of it. However, we can't really put a number on how much coffee it would take for a person to OD as it is different for everyone. Your recommended coffee intake actually depends on a lot of factors including your age, body mass, caffeine sensitivity, and serving sizes. Most of the time, caffeine overdose can be treated without long term health risks as long as it is given on time.

    10. People and animals die (or almost die) of caffeine overdose...

    Via thelocal.no

    There had been numerous cases of deaths caused by uncontrolled amounts of coffee, energy drinks, and sodas. Last year, it was reported that 40 seagulls died in Canada after eating coffee grinds. Just a few days ago, a kid in Norway went into a coma after drinking four liters of energy drink brimming with caffeine to survive a 16-hour gaming binge! I'm not really sure which sent him to the hospital though—too much coffee or too much gaming?