Can Coffee Reduce Exercise Pains?

Sometimes when you exercise, your muscles get very sore. That’s why I don’t exercise very much. But there is something that can reduce that pain. It’s coffee!

            Robert Motl, Ph.D, a one-time competitive cyclist, and a Professor of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois, found out that caffeine works on parts of  a system in your spine and brain that responds to pain! The study took place March of 2011. 

            Motl tested 25 fit, college-aged men. He split them into two groups. The first were men whose everyday caffeine intake was ranging from extremely low to none at all. The second group of men was those who consumed about three to four cups of coffee a day, which is about 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine. The Mayo Clinic, however, says 200–300 mg of caffeine is a safe level for consuming daily. In the study, both groups completed two 30-minute workout sessions.            

            “Clearly, if you regularly consume caffeine, you have to have more to have that bigger mental energy effect,” Motl said. “We’ve shown that caffeine reduces pain reliably, consistently during cycling, across different intensities, across different people, different characteristics.” The current research will still help “a normal person who wants to become more physically active,” Motl said.

            But drinking coffee does not just give you positive results. According to the Mayo Clinic Staff, you drink too much, such as 500 to 600 mg of caffeine a day, you may have an upset stomach, insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, a fast heartbeat, or muscle tremors.

            Zoe Box, a seventh grader at Farnsley Middle School, said that her muscles do get very sore when she exercises. She said would be interested in something that could reduce that pain.

             “So if we could give those people a little caffeine and reduce the amount of pain they’re experiencing, maybe that would help them stick with that exercise.” Motl says.

            My Mom goes to the gym to work out regularly. She said that she was very interested in the research. She told me that she has to limit herself to certain exercises so that her muscles do not get to sore. She told me that she would definitely start to always drink a decent amount of coffee before she goes to the gym. Lyric Hicks

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License