When you drink coffee as much as I do, it is good to know how it is affecting your body. I am constantly being told by others about the negative effects of coffee on me. However, that leads me to think of when I first started drinking coffee 5 years ago. I started drinking coffee because of its taste. I loved the idea of being able to have the same drink in many different forms: iced, hot, black, with all different flavors of crème, in a smoothie, in a frappe. Every restaurant and café seems to have a form of coffee that I haven’t tried yet. I also found that coffee was great for socializing. I had first been introduced to coffee through my father, who drinks it twice a day. Coffee time is the best time for me to sit with my dad and have a conversation. We can always bond with a cup of coffee.

Although coffee has its pros, I wish I had known how dependent I would be on it before I started drinking it daily. Once I started drinking coffee consistently, I began to notice that if I tried to go a day without drinking it I would get bad headaches. Also, I would get very sleepy and ill-tempered if I did not drink it. The longer I drink coffee the more I notice how expensive it really is. I spend about $5 dollars on coffee per day, which means I spend $1840 on coffee in a year! If I have more than one cup of coffee a day, I notice that I get very restless and will typically have a harder time sleeping through the night. Because coffee is addictive it is difficult for me to stop drinking it after so many years of drinking it daily.

Honestly, I personally do not want to completely stop drinking coffee because I have become so accustomed to it. However, I would like to cut down on how much coffee I drink, because I don’t want to experience the side effects. I plan on switching one of my cups of coffee in a day to decaf in order to cut down.  I feel like it is important for everyone to be aware of all the positive and negative sides of coffee before they begin to drink it regularly.  I know firsthand how coffee can begin to affect one’s life.

– Ayatt