How to Banish the Blahs

• Get more sleep. Sleep to restore your mind. Sleep is essential to optimal health, but people often forget that it is also a spiritual practice that benefits us mentally and emotionally. Lacking essential shut-eye is another way we block happiness from our lives.
• Find time to exercise.
• Drink water. Women should drink 10 cups of water a day. Men should drink 16 cups per day. 

10 Awesome Facts About Coffee

#1 Coffee Is Actually A Fruit!

That's right, coffee beans are actually the pits of berries. The coffee berries, sometimes called coffee cherries, are an edible fruit that have coffee beans inside. They are only called 'beans' because of their resemblance to beans.

Did you know you were actually drinking fruit when you were throwing back those lattes? It explains why the Brazilian acai berry shares so many properties with the coffee 'bean'.


#2 Hawaii is the Only U.S. State That Commercially Grows Coffee

Coffee tends to grow better at equatorial climates, so you can't really grow coffee in the contiguous United States. Hawaii, however, has an optimal climate for harvesting java beans.

Hawaii is known for their Kona coffee which is widely exported and popular around the world. As if people in Hawaii didn't have it good enough, they have some of the world's most beautiful beaches and some of the world's best coffee!

#3 It used to be custom in Turkey that if a husband did not provide his wife with coffee, it was grounds for divorce

"Until death or lack of quality coffee beans do you part?" This is an odd requirement, no doubt, but it sort of makes sense, and we bet the required coffee drinking makes for a much happier marriage, anyway!

Thankfully this custom isn't practiced anymore today. Now we live in a world of equality where husbands and wives alike should do the right thing and make coffee for their spouse. Ever made a single cup of coffee for yourself while your significant other was home? Then you've probably also suffered the consequences.

#4 Despite what most people think, an espresso has 1/3 the caffeine of a cup of coffee due to serving sizes

Consider throwing a double- or triple-shot into your favorite beverage, because just one might not cut it for the more hardcore caffeine addicts. Or you could make a Red Eye- a shot of espresso inside a cup of coffee, or as we like to call it, beanception.

Some people actually prefer drinking espresso to drip-coffee or French press for that very reason: you can actually control your own caffeine consumption. So if you're reaching for that late night cup of coffee, try an Americana with 1 shot instead of a whole cup of coffee, you'll sleep much sounder.

#5 Brazil is the world's biggest producer of coffee by a wide margin, followed by Vietnam and Colombia

In fact, in 2011 Brazil produced nearly twice as much as Vietnam and Colombia combined and a third of all of the coffee produced in the entire world. This statistic has remained fairly constant for the last 150 years!

Brazil is also one of the only countries on earth that grows both Arabica and Robusta beans. It should come as no surprise that Brazil is the number one exporter of coffee in the world, and coffee makes up a decent chunk of Brazil's whole economy.

#6 It would take around 100 cups of coffee for a lethal dose of caffeine

Unimaginable. We get the jitters after just two or three cups, so what would cup 90 feel like? Would we be able to fly and fight crime? Probably not, and we definitely don't recommend trying it out!

Most cases of coffee overdose do not come from conventional coffee drinking, but from more, erm, creative ways of consuming coffee, such as coffee enemas. Having that much caffeine in your system could lead to a heart attack or seizure.

#7 There Are Two Kinds of Beans

The two kinds of beans are Arabica and Robusta. The have different tastes and different caffeine content; Arabica beans are more popular around the world. In fact, 70% of coffee drank on earth is Arabica.

Robusta beans grow in different climates and are found largely in Africa and Indonesia. Although most people prefer the taste of Arabica, Robusta has it's fans, and Robusta beans have twice as much caffeine as Arabica!

#8 The drink "Americano"comes from when American GIs in WWII would order their espresso with water because it was too strong

Sort of funny when you think about how tough soldiers are supposed to be: Asking for your hosts to water down their coffee because it's too strong for you definitely isn't the most rugged of requests!

When preparing an Americano, you always pour the hot water on top of the espresso in the glass. If you are instead pouring espresso over hot water you are making a different drink, commonly referred to as a long black.

#9 New York drinks about 7 times as much coffee as the rest of the world

Well, they DO call it the city that never sleeps....maybe this is why? You know, New Yorkers, we've heard it helps if you don't drink any coffee after sunset. Just a tip.

There's some speculation as to why the Big Apple drinks so much coffee; a lot of it might have to do with population density. Since it is such a packed city, there are literally coffee shops everywhere. It also doesn't hurt that coffee is such a large part of the American culture.

#10 Legend has it that coffee was discovered by Ethiopian shepherds who discovered their goats dancing around after eating the beans

How exactly do goats dance? In any case, we're forever grateful for the contribution of these anonymous, possibly-fictional 9th century goat herders; without them, restless New Yorkers would have no way to wake up in the morning!

Bless you dancing goats, for giving us a discovery that's literally better than every other discovery in the history of the world. Every day when you drink your daily cup (or five) of coffee, make sure to get on your knees and thank the goat gods that brought us coffee.

Health Update

Mental Attitude: Men are More Forgetful than Women.
Researchers asked 37,504 men and women ages 30 and up nine questions about their memory and found that regardless of age, men tend to be more forgetful than women. The reason for this gender difference is unknown but researchers speculate that health problems that are more prevalent in men, such as high blood pressure and a high body-mass index, may trigger some forms of neurodegeneration.
BMC Psychology, October 2013

Health Alert: You're at Risk if Your Spouse Has Type 2 Diabetes. 
A review data on nearly 75,000 couples concludes that spouses of type 2 diabetics have a 26% increased risk for also developing the disease. The increase in risk may be related to lifestyle factors that couples may share such as a poor diet or lack of exercise.
BMC Medicine, January 2014

Diet: Do Omega-3 Fatty Acids Build a Better Brain? 
A new study involving rhesus macaque monkeys finds that monkeys that consume a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids over the course of their lives have better developed, more connected brains. The specific omega-3 fatty acid involved in the study was docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is more commonly found in fish and oils derived from fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna.
Journal of Neuroscience, February 2014

Exercise: High-Intensity Strength Training Helps Parkinson's Patients. 
According to new research, high-intensity strength training can produce significant improvements in quality of life, mood, and motor function in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Fifteen individuals with moderate Parkinson’s disease participated in high-intensity resistance training and interval training for 16 weeks. Lead author Dr. Marcas Bamman explains that they saw expected improvements such as increased strength, muscle size, and power but also improvements in balance, muscle control, cognition, mood, and a greater sense of well-being.
Journal of Applied Physiology, January 2014

Chiropractic: Recommended for Neck Pain. 
A past study comparing manual therapy, physical therapy, and continued care with a general practitioner for the treatment of neck pain came to the conclusion that manual therapy is a favorable treatment option for patients with neck pain compared with physical therapy or care by a general practitioner.
Annals of Internal Medicine, May 2002

Wellness/Prevention: Melatonin May Lower Advanced Prostate Cancer Risk. 
Risk for developing advanced prostate cancer. Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland during sleep. Individuals who have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, have erratic sleep schedules, or who take sleep medications may have lower melatonin levels.
American Association for Cancer Research, January 2014

Latest Health News

Mental Attitude: Children With Behavioral Problems More at Risk for Health Problems Later in Life.
A study involving 4,000 participants found that children with behavioral problems had higher levels of C-reactive protein and Interleukin 6 in their blood, both of which are signs of inflammation. These levels can be an early warning sign of chronic or inflammatory conditions later in life such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, September 2013

Health Alert: A Mother’s Words.
According to researchers, mothers who are overly critical and over-involved in their daughter's lives can cause lasting negative effects on their daughter's eating attitudes and social skills. The study's lead author, Dr. Analise Arroyo, found that young women whose mothers engage in what she calls "family expressed emotion" (an extraordinarily harmful pattern of criticism, over-involvement, excessive attention, and emotional reactivity) tended to have poorer social and relationship skills. Dr. Arroyo added, "In turn, poor social and relationship skills were related to the daughters' higher levels of psychological distress and disordered eating attitudes.”
National Communication Association, September 2013

Diet: Fish Oil Prevents Alcohol-Related Dementia.
Research on rats suggests that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could prevent alcohol-related dementia. When brain cells were exposed to the combination of fish oil and alcohol, researchers noted 95% less neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells, compared to brain cells that were only exposed to alcohol. Researchers say this study shows that fish oil has the potential to help preserve brain integrity in alcohol abusers; however, they recommend the best way to protect the brain is to stop drinking or cut down to moderate amounts of alcohol.
Loyola University Health System, September 2013

Exercise: Exercise Linked to Reduced Depression.
A recent review of 35 trials involving 1,356 individuals diagnosed with depression revealed that patients who engaged in exercise experienced a moderate decrease in depression symptoms. Researchers discovered that exercising proved as effective a treatment for depression as psychological therapy or taking antidepressants.
The Cochrane Library, September 2013

Chiropractic: Child with Headaches Responds to Adjustments.
This case study involved an eight-year-old boy with a complaint of daily headaches for three years. The child reported a significant decrease in headache frequency after one chiropractic treatment. The frequency of his headaches decreased to once per month after four adjustments. Since headaches are a common complaint in children, chiropractic treatment warrants further investigation.
Journal of Neuromusculoskeletal System, 2002

Wellness/Prevention: Prevent Ear Infections with Vitamin D?
Researchers have found children who supplemented their daily diet with 1000 IU of vitamin D3 experienced fewer ear infections and were less likely to have associated complications.
ICAAC, September 2013