Harvard Study Shows That Having 3 Or More Cups of Coffee a Day Might Lead to Headaches

Last Updated on 2023-02-16 , 12:39 pm

If you’re like most people, coffee is a part of your daily routine.

Even if you’re not, Singapore’s kopi culture should mean something, or at least that drinking coffee in the middle of the day is a pretty normal thing.

And then there’s the waking up coffee, which everybody needs to function.

We’ve probably all heard that too much coffee is not good for you, but how much is too much? What will even happen if I drink too much?

You might be skeptical, so let’s examine this a little more.

A study by Harvard University scientists, published in The American Journal of Medicine

Yeah, big name dropping here. It’s not a commercialised study or some smart marketing scheme, so there’s less risk of the results being skewed.

If you have access to the journal, you can read it here, or a press version on NBC.

The study is done on 98 adults with episodic migraine, in order to determine if coffee habits translate into a trigger for migraines (a type of headache that happens frequently). Most of them were women who had 2 to 15 headaches per month.

According to study director Elizabeth Mostofsky, the reason for the study is because there are few studies like this, which makes it difficult to give dietary recommendations for people with migraines.

In the study, participants fill out a diary every day over 6 weeks, which notes down caffeinated beverage intake, other lifestyle factors like physical activity, medications, alcoholic drinks, symptoms of depression, psychological stress, sleep habits, menstrual cycles, the timing and characteristics of each migraine headache, etc.

66% typically consumed 1 to 2 caffeinated beverages a day, while 20% said they typically don’t drink any, and 12% 3-4 servings a day. In total, participants reported 825 migraines throughout the study.

Each serving is defined as 8 ounces of coffee or 236 ml.

A comparison is then made for days with migraine and those without for the same person.

It’s a pretty comprehensive study, but that’s too much science for now.

So let’s talk about the results.

1 or 2 cups a day is ok

You’ve already seen the title, so 3 cups max, right?

The study director said:

“Interestingly, despite some patients with episodic migraine thinking they need to avoid caffeine, we found that drinking one to two servings/day was not associated with a higher risk of a headache. More work is needed to confirm these findings, but it is an important first step.”

So basically, the ones who only drink 1 or 2 per day can rejoice, since the science says it’s ok.

Kind of, since it basically says need more confirmation for it to not be bad.

But, for those who don’t typically drink caffeinated drinks, just one can increase the risk of headaches. Though if you don’t already drink caffeinated drinks, then it’s likely the result of this study don’t matter to you anyway.

According to the study, those who had 3 or more servings had 1.4 times higher odds, and those who had 5 or more servings had 2.61 times higher odds.

And on another study, drinking coffee or tea just before bed actually doesn’t affect sleep.

Coffee lovers, do with this information as you will.

Share this with anyone you know is a coffee addict.