This is your world on caffeine

It is estimated that 120,000 tons of caffeine are consumed each year, making it the most popular psychoactive substance globally. While many people sip a cup of joe to wake up in the morning before going to work, a growing number of athletes are using coffee to increase their performance.

In recent studies it has been shown that coffee improves performance and endurance during prolonged, exhaustive exercise. Short-term, high-intensity workouts also saw vast improvements with an added bonus of caffeine decreasing the perception of pain during exercise. While caffeine is mostly known to improve mental alertness, it also reduces the perception of fatigue.

The ground-breaking study by exercise physiologist, David Costill, Ph.D., used two female and seven male competitive cyclists to study the effect of caffeine on their performance. He found that consuming caffeine 60 minutes before exercising led to an 18% increase in performance. He also noted that the test subjects burned more fat and felt less exhausted indicating that the exercise felt less strenuous.

A more dramatic result of caffeine’s effect on athletes is shown in a test of trained runners. That study resulted in athletes achieving a 44% increase in race-pace endurance. Additional studies have reached similar conclusions.