How Coffee Could Save Your Life
Yet another reason to indulge your caffeine addiction
By Claire Groden
Time
July 26, 2013
To hear most recent research tell it, coffee is a miracle drink. The magic beans will ward off skin cancer and Alzheimer’s, reduce heart failure and diabetes risks, heighten focus, and maybe even protect liver health. Oh, and decrease suicide risk, according to the newest study that validates our coffee addictions.
According to a study performed by the Harvard School of Public Health and published this month in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, people who drink two to four cups of java each day are less likely to commit suicide than those who don’t drink coffee, drink decaf, or drink fewer than two cups each day. The study followed over 200,000 people for at least 16 years. And it’s not just a weak link: the researchers found that the suicide risk was cut by around 50 percent for caffeine fiends.
(MORE: Caffeine Withdrawal Is Now A Mental Disorder)
This isn’t the first time that researchers have discovered that coffee and smiles might go hand-in-hand. A 2011 study found that women who drink coffee cut their risk of depression by 15 percent compared to those who don’t. Michel Lucas, the head researcher of the most recent study, told The Huffington Post that coffee addicts can thank caffeine for the good news. The drug may actually act like a mild anti-depressant by tweaking levels of happy hormones like serotonin and dopamine.
Of course, there’s plenty of research out there that doesn’t look so kindly upon coffee drinkers. Recently, the New Yorker published an article arguing that while coffee may heighten focus, that means it also puts a squeeze on creativity. And of course, coffee’s well-known negative effects like insomnia and disturbed sleep cycles still hold.
Regardless, we’ll raise our mugs to this most recent study for giving us one more validation for our vice.
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suicide. Show all posts
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Monday, August 29, 2011
Military suicides linked to low Omega-3 levels
Military suicides linked to low Omega-3 levels
August 24, 2011
By Melissa Healy
The Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog
In a finding suggesting powerful psychiatric benefits for a component of fish oil, a study published Wednesday has linked military suicides to low levels of docosahexaenoic acid and found that service personnel with higher levels of DHA in their blood were less likely to take their own lives.
The study, published this week in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, looked back at the medical records of 800 U.S. servicemen and women who took their own lives between 2002 and 2008, and compared them with the records of 800 service personnel -- matched for age, gender and rank -- who had no history of suicide attempts.
August 24, 2011
By Melissa Healy
The Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog
In a finding suggesting powerful psychiatric benefits for a component of fish oil, a study published Wednesday has linked military suicides to low levels of docosahexaenoic acid and found that service personnel with higher levels of DHA in their blood were less likely to take their own lives.
The study, published this week in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, looked back at the medical records of 800 U.S. servicemen and women who took their own lives between 2002 and 2008, and compared them with the records of 800 service personnel -- matched for age, gender and rank -- who had no history of suicide attempts.
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