Does Drinking Coffee Affect The Eyesight?

Many people use coffee to fuel their day. Some believe they can’t start their day energetically without having a cup of coffee while some admit that coffee is not just a drink for them as it’s a way of life. However, too much of anything can be truly devastating for your health and overall well-being. Excessive use of coffee can actually do more harm than good for your health if not used in moderation.

Basic Information

Caffeine is mainly found in cocoa beans, coffee and tea and is commonly used in various medications and other beverages. Caffeine is basically a stimulant that swiftly gets intoyour blood stream and impacts your brain. A lot of people use caffeine to stimulate their mind and feel more energetic. However, its drug-like effects can also trigger some side effects including anxiety and nervousness.

Caffeine and Your Vision

There is no denying the fact that your eyes can make or break your look. In today’s fast-paced world where we have many options for our eyes such as contact lenses without a prescription, the only thing we need to work on is the health of our eyes.

Consuming too much caffeine can cause numerous eye illnesses including dry eyes, weak or blurred vision or in rare cases glaucoma. When you drink excessive coffee, your body may experience unexpected fluctuations in your sugar level. This swiftly results in blurred vision or numerous other conditions including nausea, increased heart rate or changes in appetite. In addition to that, you can also experience twitches in your eyes.

There are people who believe that drinking too much caffeine in a short duration can curtail tear production which will result in dry eye condition. Though this condition isn’t dangerous, it can be troublesome for your routine activities and can cause burning sensation within your eyes. In fact, if not treated for longer period of time, dry eye can trigger many other eye health issues like eye infection, abrasions, eye inflammation, etc.

Apart from temporary, short-lived effect on eye health, there can be more severe and even permanent consequences to excessive use of caffeine. For instance, one negative effect of coffee that a lot of people aren’t aware of is that it augments the risk of glaucoma. There are numerous researches that validate this point. According to those studies, people who consume caffeine in huge quantity are at a higher risk of having weaker vision.

Studies also suggest that people who consume three or more cups of coffee were at higher risk of developing glaucoma than individuals who used caffeine in moderation. It’s also noticeable, that people who used caffeine in moderation have faced no severe consequences or eye health issues at all.

At this stage, you must be thinking about sacrificing your beloved coffee cup each morning. But, wait! Although coffee is not very good for your vision and have multiple side effects especially if used in excessive quantity, it isn’t naturally too bad. Coffee contains some other ingredients that are believed to be good for your eyes – chlorogenic acid being one of them. In fact, if you keenly observe the conclusion of all the aforementioned studies, you’ll come to know that instead of omitting caffeine from your routine altogether, the researchers have suggested users to limit their use.

Positive Impact of Coffee on Your Eyes

As mentioned above, consuming coffee could have numerous benefits too. Chlorogenic acid, for example, is an antioxidant that reduces weight and also helps in controlling blood pressure. Also, it can also provide your body protection against hypoxia that occurs due to the lack of oxygen.

Notably, hypoxia is a condition that directly impacts your retina and drinking coffee could help prevent any eye issue caused by the oxygen deficiency. Research suggests that CGA in its purest state can specifically prevent degeneration of retina. The contribution of coffee in this process is yet to be explored though.

Similarly, avid coffee consumers are also apparently less at risk of diabetes and the health issues that can crop up from it. One of the studies suggest that research participants who increased their daily coffee usage by one or more cups over the time had at lesser risk of developing diabetes. Also, people who dropped their intake by the similar quantity increased their risk by massive 17%.

How to Identify Caffeine Overdose?

Although, caffeine is a commonly used stimulant found in daily use products, food and beverages, it is still important to understand that it possess drug-like attributes. This is why it should be treated with the same care and attentiveness as any other stimulant or drug. Caffeine overuse does come with numerous health risks. In fact, caffeine overuse can be extremely dangerous in certain cases.

Ideally, you should consume one or two cups per day to get your needed jolt. If you’re a true coffee lover and use multiple pots per day, then you should consider limiting your intake.

Make sure to talk to your doctor or health physician to know more about the ideal caffeine intake for yourself. As a general rule, 400mg of caffeine either in the form of beverages, coffee or medications is suggested.

You’re suffering from caffeine overdose if you’re seeing flashes of light. Similarly, some other possible signs of caffeine overdose includes uneven heartbeat, anxiety, dizziness or nausea. Make sure to seek immediate medical care if you’re facing any or all of these symptoms.

Throwing caffeine out from your daily routine can be truly troublesome for coffee fanatics. Luckily, for most people, this extreme step is not needed to keep your vision flawless. Keep in mind, the most common vision problems or eye health disorders arises due to the caffeine overuse. If you’re consuming a cup or two to keep yourself active, it won’t impact you vision or the health of your eye in any way.

However, if you’re observing any unusual changes in your vision, it would be great to see your ophthalmologist right away.

About Jason Spencer

Jason Spencer has a tremendous enthusiasm for all facets of health, fitness and physical performance that stems from an athletic lifestyle from childhood. Jason was fortunate enough to compete in collegiate football and learned to love the challenges that physical activity placed on the body. As Jason progressed through his higher education and became increasingly aware of how science is applied to physical activity and how it reveals the benefits of exercise, he realized very quickly that he wanted to pursue a career that gives him the opportunity to teach others to compete, challenge, and push themselves towards something more valuable to them than anything else; health, fitness and self worth. Being a fitness professional allows Jason to do this for them and he is always incredibly grateful for that. Jason has a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. Neuroscience and his acquired knowledge of the nervous system and muscle stimulation techniques has been extremely instrumental towards building a unique ability and feel for training the body for optimal form and function. As a personal trainer he is certified with ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine). He's also a strength & conditioning specialist with NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association). He has additional certifications in both kettlebell principles & techniques (Equinox), and Flexibility & Corrective Exercise (Swedish Institute of Health Sciences in NY). Jason has worked as a trainer and conditioning specialist in a variety of fitness facilities over the years such as: LA Fitness in Piscataway, NJ, the YMCA in Metuchen, NJ, and Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York, NY. He also does private in-home sessions all over the Manhattan area.