Everyone knows that coffee and caffeine go hand in hand. Coffee contains caffeine that contributes greatly to the stimulating and rejuvenating effect of coffee. The freshness of the coffee beans and the strength of the particular brew can also affect the amount of caffeine in the coffee.

That little pick me up you have every morning is turning on your central nervous system at a higher speed as the caffeine starts interacting with the chemicals in your body. It actually super charges you and wakes you up.

Coffee, as we all know, is high in caffeine, and caffeine is suspected of increasing blood pressure and heart rate. Caffeine is also harmful if you depend on it to wake you up day after day because of too little sleep.

Other harmful effects of coffee occur in people who replace a good breakfast or lunch with a cup of coffee, or when a person drinks more than three or four cups a day. But what about the benefits of caffeine in moderate amounts?

While it is mostly the caffeine that gets people going, a side benefit from drinking these beverages is that you may be boosting your immune system and helping to fight disease. Coffee is considered an antioxidant that fights the free radicals in your system that causes aging.

Coffee contains compounds that actually reduce tooth decay and fight food poisoning. It is also a source of magnesium, which is very important. It has been found to fight colon cancer, decrease the symptoms of asthma, and reduce the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.

Coffee also improves your ability to concentrate and get your work done. Caffeine can increase the speed of rapid information processing by 10%. One study done by a major corporation in New York discovered that coffee or caffeine increased their productivity by up to 35%.

Further studies have indicated it may in fact support liver health for some people. Alcoholics suffered less from cirrhosis of the liver if they drank two to four cups of coffee each day.

Caffeine has been shown to slightly decrease the calcium in your system. But most people are not affected by this since they take adequate amounts of calcium each day.

If you suffer from acid indigestion, you will want to avoid robusta coffees. Robusta coffees are higher in caffeine and are more acrid and acidic in taste, whereas arabica coffees have almost half the caffeine and stomach-upsetting oils of robusta.

Basically, caffeine becomes harmful when too much is ingested, or when it is used in place of a good diet. People who are in the habit of grabbing a cup of coffee for breakfast, or grabbing a cup for a quick lunch are eventually going to feel the ill effects of a very poor diet. Nothing should replace a healthy breakfast and lunch.

It is also harmful to depend on caffeine to keep you awake late into the night, or to use it as a way to wake up in the morning after getting too little sleep. Doctors recommend not drinking any coffee after a set time when you know it will keep you awake at bedtime. For instance, if you find that drinking a cup of coffee after 2:00 in the afternoon affects your sleep, then you know that you must not drink it after 2:00.

As long as you enjoy your coffee in moderation, and don't use it to replace a good diet or to allow you to sleep less than the recommend seven to eight hours each night, there is no doubt about the innumerable beneficial aspects of coffee and caffeine with respect to health.

Carol Stack lives in the United States with her husband, three children, and various dogs and cats. Carol and her sister Barbara have created a website that is dedicated to coffee lovers around the world. You can visit it at http://www.coffeeloversportal.com for tips on how to create a great cup of coffee at home.