As I stagger out of bed in the mornings and begin my ritual of resistance exercises (press-ups, squats, sit-ups and the dreaded plank) the one thing that keeps me going is the promise of a lovely cup of tea when I get downstairs. After my first cup, I take the dog for a walk, soak up the sunshine, then sip my first coffee of the morning, normally drunk black. Apart from the flavour, what I love about tea and coffee is that they’re stimulants, rich with the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive drug – caffeine. A white, crystalline powder, it’s produced by plants to protect them against insect attack.
Not only do tea and coffee perk me up in the mornings, but there is strong evidence that caffeine consumers enjoy a range of other health benefits, with the benefits being clearer for coffee than tea.
This story is from the January /February 2021 edition of Very Interesting.
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This story is from the January /February 2021 edition of Very Interesting.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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