one smart bean
You're enjoying that cup of coffee, sucking it down black. But the health nut in the next campsite interrupts your morning ritual by expounding on the evils of coffee: it will hurt your performance, make you jittery, and dehydrate you. Do you talk back or try to keep your cool, as you look with disgust at his cup of cold carrot juice sprinkled with seaweed? Well, you can thank recent medical research for proving these coffee-haters wrong.
According to Dr. Sue Hopkins, a sports medicine physician who holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology, coffee can be a good training tool. In addition to increasing alertness and concentration, it helps your body burn fats and conserve carbohydrates, giving you more energy for a longer duration.
Although caffeine has its benefits, Hopkins does not recommend taking caffeine supplements, which can overload your system -- and even be illegal in sports that require drug testing. Too much caffeine also dehydrates you and can stimulate an irregular heartbeat. (Caffeine is not advised at all if you have fibrocystic breast disease.)
So feel good about that morning cup of coffee -- just chase it down with a glass of water and go do your thing.