Are 3 Cups Of Coffee Healthy?

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Today’s Health Upgrade

• The 3 cups of coffee study

• Can you age 4 years overnight?

• Warmer body, bigger muscles

Fact or Fiction 
3 Cups Of Coffee Per Day Keeps Disease Away

A new study about the world’s favorite beverage has us thinking far beyond the results of a single study.

Scientists found that those who drink three cups of coffee per day (consuming about 200 to 300 milligrams of caffeine) have up to a 48 percent lower risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. 

This isn’t the first time coffee has been linked to impressive health benefits, and it won’t be the last. In a world of sensationalized over-selling, coffee could be considered the original superfoods. Coffee is a strong source of polyphenols and chlorogenic acid, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that fight against the buildup of free radicals that can cause disease, help with glucose and lipid metabolism, and help lower blood pressure. 

However, the most recent study (like so many others) is observational. That doesn’t mean the data is worthless; it's just that you can’t draw clear cause and effect. Because the research includes so much information (around 200,000 people met the study’s conditions), the data hints at something worth considering. 

Is the coffee making a difference, or is there something fundamentally healthier about coffee drinkers?

We’ve shared that coffee drinkers tend to move about 1,000 steps more daily than non-coffee drinkers. The latest study suggests that coffee drinkers also eat more vegetables, consume less processed food, have less saturated fat, and tend to live to older ages.

To be fair, before drawing conclusions in the current study, the researchers accounted for behaviors that tend to be associated with better health, such as physical activity, BMI, and blood pressure. Still, it’s hard to suggest that caffeine or coffee alone is the cause of the positive outcomes.

At the same time, some parts of the research made us raise an eyebrow and think coffee could, in fact, be protective of your health. The researchers analyzed 168 individual metabolites, which are measurements in your blood that indicate better or worse health. Nearly 50 percent of the metabolites were improved in people who drank coffee compared to those who didn’t. 

In particular, coffee drinkers (and those who consume more caffeine, which includes tea drinkers) experienced a significant reduction in dangerous cholesterol (VLDL) that is most closely associated with cardiovascular disease. 

And that wasn’t the only interesting metabolite that shifted. Coffee drinkers also had lower levels of saturated fatty acids and higher levels of histidine — both are indicators of a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. 

The foundational behaviors of a healthier life are still movement, good nutrition, quality sleep, lower stress, and social connection. No amount of coffee or caffeine will change that. But there does appear to be something about coffee that provides additional health benefits and cardiovascular protection. 

Together With Eight Sleep 
Can You Age 4 Years Overnight?

Exercise and diet get all the attention, but solving sleep is easily one of the healthiest things you can do for your body. 

Research suggests that sleep deficiency — which can be anything less than 6 to 7 hours per night — is linked to many chronic health problems, including heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression.

We don’t believe in ranking healthy behaviors, but it’s easy to argue that while a few days off from exercise and a few bad meals won’t do much harm, as little as one or two nights of bad sleep can have a dramatic effect on your mood, energy, productivity, hunger, emotion, and decision-making. That’s why many scientists argue that getting consistent quality rest is the foundation of good health. 

One study even suggests that just two nights of bad sleep can make you feel more than 4 years old than your actual age. 

Some have twisted this to make it seem that you’re actually aging — but that’s not what’s happening. The study looked at sleep deprivation and measured how participants felt, but it didn’t assess cellular aging. Still, most of us aren’t aware of what’s happening day-by-day on a inside our body, but we do know how we feel. And no one wants to feel older or less energized. 

If you want to sleep better, start by setting consistent bed times, cutting off food 2 to 3 hours before you sleep, making your room as dark as possible, and limiting technology an hour before bed.

While those changes take time, there is one easy button that can instantly improve your rest. 

The Eight Sleep Pod is scientifically proven to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and have a better night of sleep. It’s easy to make big claims, but much harder to have studies to back it up — and Eight Sleep has both. 

Eight Sleep created a mattress cover that goes on your mattress like a fitted sheet and controls the temperature of your mattress — anywhere from 55 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. It allows you to set a different temperature on each side of the bed to terminate all the old arguments between couples about the room's temperature. It wakes you up by slowly heating up and vibrating when you use the alarm feature, which is much more pleasant than that phone sound from your nightstand. And it tracks your sleep, heart rate, and heart rate variability without you having to wear anything.

It works, and we have personally been paying customers almost since the beginning because we believe it’s an investment in one of the most important aspects of your health. So when the opportunity to get a discount for the village came up, we jumped at the chance because we love the product and know it can make a big difference.

If you’ve struggled with sleep, this could be the change you’ve been looking for. On average, Pod users see their sleep quality improve by 32 percent after just one month on the Pod.

Check out Eight Sleep and use the code “PUMPCLUB” to save $350 OFF the Pod 4. Eight Sleep currently ships within the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and select countries in the EU.

Fitness
Warmer Body, Bigger Muscles

Last year felt like the year of the cold. But this year is all about being hot. 

If you’re looking for every little way to grow muscle growth, new research suggests turning up the heat on your workouts could be the change that gives you the boost you desire. 

Scientists found that combining resistance training with heating your body could potentially help you build more muscle. 

The study was small but simple. We know that lifting weights triggers “anabolic signaling pathways,” which is a fancy way of explaining muscle growth. Research also suggests that heat could increase those same anabolic signaling pathways. 

But it’s not just preparing your muscles with a few light sets.

The research suggests that externally warming your body—like in a sauna—could increase your muscle-building potential.

The reason might be “heat shock proteins” (HSPs), which protect cells from stress and promote muscular adaptation and repair. The more you activate HSPs, the more muscle you might build.

We need more research to confirm the benefits before we claim this as the next big thing. However, the risk is likely low. So, if you want to see if it makes a difference, the extreme heat is a time commitment.

In the study, those who saw potential muscle-building benefits followed their workout with a 60-minute sauna session (at 140 degrees Fahrenheit), with 5-minute breaks every 20 minutes. 

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell