Sharing – Two to three cups of coffee a day may protect your mental health

As a coffee drinker, this is the kind of headline that ames me smile.

As an advocate for mental health, it’s the kind of headline that makes me shake my head because it’s an oversimplification of the study. This doesn’t begin to describe the details of the study:

A new analysis of hundreds of thousands of adults reveals that drinking moderate amounts of coffee is linked to a lower risk of developing anxiety and depression, though excessive consumption may reverse those benefits.

https://www.psypost.org/two-to-three-cups-of-coffee-a-day-may-protect-your-mental-health/

If you read past the headline, you’ll learn that the study did show some statistical improvement at the 2-3 cups of coffee consumption level. You’ll also learn that the study only included people who did not have a diagnosed mental health issue currently. That’s a significant fact. This study says nothing about what coffee might do for you if you’re already dealing with depression, for example. You’ll also learn that the authors theorize that it is caffeine interacting with certain types of liver proteins, which may mean that there’s no impact if you do not possess the protein in question.

To put it bluntly, drinking two or three cups of coffee per day may help ward off some mental health issues for some people.

For an individual, it may help, and it may not. It’s important to note that a lower incidence of mental health issues does not mean no mental health incidents. You can exercise, drink two cups of coffee, and get a good night’s sleep every day, and while that is good for you and has benefits, there’s no guarantee that you will not be impacted by mental health issues.

It’s also important to understand that someone who is dealing with mental health issues may not be failing at any of these steps of taking care of themselves. There are no guarantees. Mental health issues impact everyone.