Java Jive

Good health requires hydration.  The recommended daily water intake is 80 oz or eight 10 oz glasses. Seems a lot.  But ... it turns out cups of coffee count toward that target.  And the diuretic effect of coffee only minimally increases that target. Given that, it seems not so much. I do love a good coffee. 

However, the world’s most popular beverage is tea which has about 1/3 the caffeine of Folgers, but for me, the only reason to drink tea is a concoction infused with lemon, licorice or peppermint to fight off a head cold. The British are of the opinion that any problem is solvable over a cuppa tea. Maybe they have something.

Not too long ago, coffee was high on the list of things to avoid. But recent research shows that coffee "can improve cognitive performance, speed up reaction time, and boost logical reasoning, and it may even reduce the risk of Parkinson’s, diabetes, liver disease, and cancer. But for a substance so ubiquitous that it’s called the most widely used drug in the world, our grasp of how to maximize its benefits is feeble at best."

Remember, too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Caffeine is a drug after all. And there's a point when guzzling caffeine tips over into questionable, unhealthy territory. 

There are FDA guidelines on caffeine intake, a caffeine limit of 400 milligrams, the equivalent of about four or five cups of coffee. But we are clearly in an era of extreme "Red Bull caffeinating" with new products delivering high doses of caffeine popping up all the time. There are no product labeling or age warnings requirements on caffeine content. There are drinks on the market that contain 200 mg in a 12 oz can, 6x that of a Coke or 3x a cup of coffee. A 12-ounce Americano from McDonald’s contains 71 milligrams of caffeine, but the same drink at Starbucks contains 150 milligrams. And that 10 Hour Energy little 2 oz bottle has 422 mg of caffeine, exceeding that daily limit in one swallow.

So exercise some common sense. There have been several wrongful death lawsuits against extreme caffeine drink companies. Everyone reacts differently. I know someone where even a nibble of chocolate incites heart palpitations. If you've had 2 cups of coffee in the morning for 50 years it's probably not an issue, whereas if you're a novice, you might want to take it slow. Listen to your body.

Dehydration is dangerous. The USTA had a "pill" developed that players could swallow and have their internal body temperature measured during match breaks, using a red/yellow/green indication.  Red meaning stop the match.  However, players objected to swallowing a big horse-pill so the safety measure went by the boards - or rather the court. And the "pill" was cost effective as it was reusable. 

In any case, keep in mind that cold water absorbs into your system fastest, so if you're playing tennis (or pickleball) when it's 100°, you should hydrate with cold water not coffee. 

Be careful out there.

"The Java Jive" (Ink Spots, 1940)

 Copyright ©  2024  Dave Hoplin