Posted on July 12, 2016 by Kate Halsall
Before you start thinking hard core drugs here – that’s not the kind of stimulants I’m talking about! Secondly, this blog has been brought about because this week I gave up coffee on the advice of my osteopath. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not an addict – I only ever have two coffees a day: one in the morning and one mid afternoon…perfectly timed for when I feel I need them most. Not for the time being though <sigh>. But it’s because we’re looking at my nervous system and how it is affecting my back; as such I need to try and calm my nervous system down! And that’s where it gets interesting : I would never have considered that coffee, which I know is a stimulant, would affect my nerves in such a way that it could be affecting my back! To be honest, I’m still not 100% convinced (and I’m missing coffee!) so I decided to look into how do stimulants affect your body?
Let’s first confirm which stimulants I’m talking about (it’s the natural easily accessible ones). Such as:
- Coffee / Tea
- Cocao – or Chocolate
- Green Tea
- Ginseng
- Coconut Oil
- Guarana
- Nicotine
Now let’s get straight to the point and look at what they do (by the way, they do not all do everything on the list):
GOOD:
- Create energy, stamina and endurance
- Encourage the release of Dopamine which affects your mood
- Enhance focus and alertness
- Increases blood flow to the brain
- Can aid thyroid and metabolism
- Promote weight loss
NOT SO GOOD:
- Can affect sleep
- Constriction of blood vessles
- Exacerbate anxiety symptoms
- Increases heart rate and blood pressure
- Just because they’re natural doesn’t mean they’re not addictive
- Heighten your nervous system as everything has to work faster
This blog was never designed to say “all stimulants are bad”. In fact, it proves that there is a balance; they can be beneficial for your workouts and your mood but equally they can produce insomnia and contribute to anxiety. Hopefully this blog helps to show how stimulants can affect your body. The key, as always, is everything in moderation, but consider why you’re having these stimulants in the first place – it could be that you weren’t aware that they did this to your body!
Picture: https://pixabay.com/en/woman-human-pair-man-face-body-254133/
More Information:
http://health.allwomenstalk.com/natural-stimulants-that-are-a-better-aleternative-to-energy-drinks
http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/eliminate-stimulants