Throughout my entire life I have heard people saying coffee is their therapy and I have even said it myself. Why do people say that? Maybe it is because coffee makes them less tired and ready to conquer their day. Or it could be because they drink coffee with a friend. But have you ever thought, maybe coffee actually, is therapy.
I came across an article written by the National Coffee Association (yes, that is a real thing), and it flooded my brain with information about coffee therapy. They claim that drinking coffee can reduce depression risk up to 33% percent. A Harvard Medical School Professor of Neurology (Dr. Alan Leviton) conducted a review of the current research available about the link between coffee and depression. I am about to throw some pretty impressive statistics at you so get ready.
A group of 300,000 people were thrown into a study, and more than 8,000 of them were depressed. The study found that people who consumed higher amounts of coffee were at a lower risk of depression than those who consumed less coffee or none at all. The study also found a peak protective effect of 400mL/day. I mean who even thinks of this stuff!
There was another study done at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain that consisted of 14,000 graduate students. It was revealed that students who drank at least 4 cups of coffee per day showed a much lower risk of physician-diagnosed depression than others.
Now that I may have bored you with numbers, you may be asking yourself, “but why?”. I was asking myself that same question, so I kept reading. Dr. Leviton poses five explanations as to why coffee lowers depression rates. Here they are:
- Antioxidant effects
- Inflammation and depression
- Caffeine, adenosine and depression
- Some benefits modification of what is in the brew
- Some benefits modification of what is in the bowel
In Leviton’s review he goes into detail about each explanation and the reasoning behind this theory. If you would like to dive into his review, I will have it linked at the bottom of this page. After finishing the review, I was curious myself to see if people really did think coffee was therapeutic. So, I asked our beloved Turks Head Customers what they thought.
There was a common theme among customer answers. They believe it is not just the coffee that acts as therapy but the feeling of community and peace within the café. This brings me back to my opening point that drinking coffee with friends is 100% a form of therapy. So, whether or not you want to put what Dr. Leviton says to the test and drink 4 cups of coffee a day, you can still benefit from stopping in the café and chatting with one of our baristas or customers. At Turks Head Café we strive to continue bringing the community together one cup at a time.
What some of our customers said:
“Coffee and shops specifically provide a sense of peace and welcome catharsis.”
“I think coffee and a coffeeshop community can be a part of an individual’s therapeutic ritual.”
“Coffee helps me face a challenging world.”
“It is not just the actual beverage, but the process of getting ready and treating yourself is very healing.”
“Coffee is a moment for just me!”
“Coffee is like a warm hug.”
“It breaks up my workday and brings me joy.”
If you would like to read Dr. Levitons full review here is the link:
https://www.ncausa.org/Portals/56/PDFs/Communication/20200504_Leviton_white_paper_final.pdf
Great article!!