Tag Archives: coffee

The benefits of drinking coffee and playing video games, together!

13 Monday Jul 2020

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Coffee lovers, if your double espresso isn’t giving you the buzz it used to, do this: Don’t order a triple espresso – stick with the double and play a video game while you’re sipping it. According to the University of Alberta, people who played a fast-moving video game while drinking coffee felt significantly more energized than those who drank coffee but skipped the game. Think Tetris, Fruit Ninja, or Call of Duty. It works by increasing your brain’s production of adrenaline.

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Need an instant pick-me-up?

19 Tuesday May 2020

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Swap your next cup of coffee for peppermint tea… it’s proven to boost your energy, focus AND alertness within minutes. That’s from The International Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers found that mint’s aroma alone helps stimulate the brain’s memory centers, which means it’ll clear up any brain fog that’s slowing you down, and help you focus. It’s similar to what happens when you first bite into a piece of peppermint gum, and you get an icy cool sensation in your mouth that wakes you up!

Meanwhile, menthol – which is the active ingredient in mint – is proven to relax muscles and arteries in a way that increases blood flow. The upshot being that if your energy is being dragged down by stress, for example, sipping peppermint tea is the perfect way to get your energy back.

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If the chardonnay was really flowing on girl’s night…

14 Friday Feb 2020

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…do this when you get up in the morning: Have a cup of coffee and a splash of hot sauce on your breakfast. The plant compounds in coffee – and the capsaicin in hot sauce – can help detox your liver. That’s according to the World Cancer Research Fund. Even better, put hot sauce or chili flakes on avocado toast. The avocado has potassium and magnesium, two minerals that alcohol drains from your system.

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Running a marathon? Do this!

27 Wednesday Nov 2019

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Runners, if you have a 5K coming up – keep this in mind, from the International Journal of Sports and Nutrition: Drink 2 cups of coffee about 45 minutes before your run. It’ll increase your speed by 3%. That may not seem like much – but if you run a 5K in about 30 minutes, you’ll shave almost a minute off your time. What’s the magic in coffee that makes the difference?

The combination of caffeine and antioxidants improves blood flow, reduces feelings of pain, and improves diaphragm strength – so you can breathe easier during exertion. So drink 2 cups of coffee about 45 minutes before your run.

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Would you like to be more creative…

01 Friday Nov 2019

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…and more “ready for anything?” Just do something completely new every week. Like, try a new cardio class, eat an ethnic cuisine you’ve never tried before, ask someone at work you barely know out for coffee. That advice comes from psychiatrist Dr. Robert Leahy. He says switching up your routine on a regular basis makes you more creative, and helps you prepare for the unexpected. It gets you thinking in new ways. And can help you perform better under pressure.

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Do you jumpstart your day with coffee?

14 Monday Oct 2019

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Here’s another reason to stick with caffeine: It may slow your biological aging process! That’s from the Stanford School of Medicine. The reason? Because most of us tend to develop inflammation in our tissues, veins, and arteries as we age, which can lead to heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, osteoarthritis and even depression. But the metabolites in caffeine help minimize inflammation. Bottom line: Coffee may be the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth.

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If you’ve had 3 nights of bad sleep in a row…

20 Tuesday Aug 2019

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…coffee won’t help you. That’s according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

They say, after 3 nights of tossing and turning, the maximum amount of caffeine we should have daily – 500 milligrams or 3 cups – isn’t effective at that point. After 2 bad nights, it’ll still help. But get to 3 in a row and the levels of adenosine in our system will be too high. That’s a brain chemical that promotes sleep… and the more adenosine we have, the more tired we become. And after 3 nights, we’ll have so much adenosine built up that not even a triple espresso can fix it. The only thing that will is a good night’s sleep.

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It’s flip-flop season…

20 Thursday Jun 2019

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…which means yours are probably pretty gross by now. So here are some cleaning tips:

First: Seal them overnight in a bag of coffee grounds or dryer sheets, or for 24 hours in a plastic bag in the freezer. That’ll help remove odors, according to the Bright Nest blog.

Or put a couple of drops of cedarwood or sandalwood essential oil on the insole of each flip-flop. It’ll leave a fresh scent without irritating your feet.

And you can sprinkle rubber flip-flops with baking soda, and after an hour, rinse with water and vinegar. That’s the “classic de-stinking” technique.

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This is how to cool down in the Summer heat!

07 Friday Jun 2019

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Before you sip iced tea or iced coffee to cool off in sweltering heat, consider trying a HOT drink instead. It sounds counterintuitive, but it may cool you down better than something ice-cold.

Loughborough University researchers in the UK found hot drinks increase body temperature, and can trigger sweat, which is the body’s way of cooling off. That’s why many of the top tea-consuming countries – like India – have hot climates.

But other research shows cold drinks work best in extremely humid conditions since sweat evaporates more slowly in humid weather.

So when in Phoenix, drink hot tea. And in New Orleans or New York City, drink it iced.

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Don’t skip your morning coffee!

22 Monday Apr 2019

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If skipping your morning coffee makes you feel grumpy, or even depressed, it’s not your imagination. Research from the Harvard School of Public Health found drinking 2 to 4 cups of caffeinated coffee improves mood. It can reduce the risk of depression by 20%, and cuts the risk of suicide in half! The researchers say caffeine acts as a mild antidepressant by boosting production of feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline.

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