Your coffee-drinking habits might be tied to the kind of job you have.
According to a study done by Pressat involving 10,000 individuals, 85 percent of respondents admitted to drinking a minimum of three cups of coffee in a day. Most people need a shot of caffeine in the morning to jump-start their day but for almost 70 percent of respondents, drinking coffee is heavily tied to their ability to work. Additionally, men apparently drink more coffee compared to women, but the difference isn't drastic at just a little over 5 percent.
"It seems that drinking coffee is a necessity on the job in a wide variety of professions. The highest consumers, sinking over four cups daily, were those with stressful careers: journalists consumed the most, followed closely by police officers and teachers. Could it be that being overstretched or working late pushed the workforce to consume more caffeine?" wrote the UK blog.
In a different study, the University of South Carolina reported that daily recommended doses of caffeine should not go beyond 200mg in a day. That much caffeine translates to about four cups or two mugs of coffee.
Caffeine is a mild addictive stimulant so it makes people drink more coffee as they go to achieve the effect they want. It has modest effects on cardiovascular health, increasing blood pressure and inducing arrhythmia when a person has one too many cups in a day so it is important to watch just how much coffee is being consumed.
Unfortunately, 62 percent of the study's respondents did not know that drinking a lot of coffee can have repercussions on their health.
However, keep coffee consumption to just a few cups a day and there should be no reason to fear health risks. In fact, regular moderate coffee-drinking has been shown to lower risks for type 2 diabetes, reduce chances of getting gallstones, cut back likelihood of developing colon cancer, and lessening risks of liver damage in susceptible individuals. Improved cognitive function is, of course, a given since caffeine helps people focus.
To make the most out of drinking coffee to stay alert, space caffeine doses throughout the day. For example, instead of downing a 16-ounce latte in the morning, opt to consume two to three ounces every hour or so.
Aside from journalists, police officers, and teachers, the list of the top 10 professions that consume the most coffee include plumbers/trade workers, nurses/medical staff, company executives, telesales, IT technical support, retail staff, and drivers.
