It’s no secret coffee is a huge part of Los Angeles culture. Angelenos start almost every day with coffee and many turn to caffeine again in the afternoon. Some have daily pre-workouts and energy shots. Hungry for caffeine, Los Angeles people are drinking caffeine more than ever.

So what does drinking coffee actually do to your heart? Many Los Angeles caffeine users have heart problems, high blood pressure, and other serious conditions. Maria Tehrani, leading cardiac surgeon at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, answers this question almost every day. The good news is that for people who are mostly healthy, coffee is usually safe to drink and doesn’t usually have any protective benefits. It’s the specifics of your health history that matter.

Understand Caffeine and Your Heart

For anyone, caffeine acts as a stimulant and works to block adenosine. Without adenosine, the ability and process to relax and slow down the nerves is also blocked. This is why caffeine elevates your alertness. Heart rates and blood pressure rise, and caffeine also causes adrenaline to be released.

Lastly, a person’s cardiovascular system is affected for about 1 to 3 hours at a time with higher blood pressure, a small increase in heart rate, and other variable changes to blood vessels based on genetics, which also has mixed results.

Generally, the effects that come with drinking coffee are mild and easy to manage. For people that have existing heart issues, those effects become significantly worse and should be more concerning.

What Does the Research Conclude?

The effects coffee has on the heart have been studied for decades and have produced results. In most patients, coffee that is drank in moderation has been shown to be positively associated with a decreased risk of developing heart failure, strokes, and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, coffee has polyphenols which have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative benefits.

That being said, coffee is not a heart disease recovery program. It is shown that heart health of coffee drinkers is positively associated and that drinking coffee in moderation is deemed to be reasonably safe. For people that have some existing heart problems, the situation gets worse when coffee is replaces with high-doses of caffeinated drinks.

Negative Effects of Coffee

For people living in Los Angeles, there are some situations when they should be much more careful with their caffeine consumption. Some of those reasons are:

Atrial fibrillation and other arrythmias. Certain people become very sensitive to coffee. If coffee with caffeine is drank, many people will experience a heart palpitations, and episodes related to irregular heart rhythms.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure. Since caffeine has been shown to raise blood pressure, if your blood pressure is high, it is better to limit coffee consumption until blood pressure becomes lower.

Anxiety and panic disorder. Caffeine boosts physical symptoms of anxiety, one of which is a racing heart.

Trouble Sleeping. Caffeine has a half life of 5 to 6 hours. This means that a coffee consumed at 3 PM is still active in your body at 9 PM. Poor sleep is a major driver of cardiovascular risk in busy LA professionals.

Pregnancy. During pregnancy almost all guidelines suggest a limit of less than 200 mg of caffeine daily.

Sports Medicine. Caffeine is especially dangerous when combined with other stimulants found in energy drinks or pre-workout products. Medical emergencies from cardiac issues associated with stimulant use in pre-workouts is a problem we didn’t appreciate enough until recently.

Not All Coffees Are Created Equal

This is also a major area of misunderstanding among LA patients. Cold brew is a larger drink size, however, it is significantly stronger than what most people believe to be coffee. An average 16 ounce cold brew has anywhere from 200 to 300 mg of caffeine while a regular 8 ounce cup of drip coffee has only 95 mg.

If your drink of choice is a large cold brew coffee, you may be downing the caffeine equivalent of 3-4 regular sized cups of coffee, all in one go. For patients with caffeine sensitivity or those with arrhythmias, all this really matters.

Espresso drinks can be mixed in so many different ways, and across all LA coffee shops, you can expect large variablility. A single espresso shot is about 65 mg of caffeine, whereas a double is 130 mg. A lot of LA coffee shops will add double shots as their default option without noting it.

How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?

The FDA suggests that up to 400 mg of caffeine (roughly 4 cups of coffee) is considered safe for healthy adults. For cardiac patients, safety depends on the individual.

– Caffeine can be eliminated for those with AFib and patients with palpitations or mysterious rhythm episodes can assess if there are improvements in symptoms.

– Caffeine can be restricted for those with hypertension until they achieve control of their blood pressure.

– Heart patients on specific medications, such as those for rhythm control or anxiety and thyroid issues, can have an altered response to caffeine.

– Heart surgery recovery patients should also follow their surgeon’s directions regarding the resumption of caffeine.

Genetics can also be a factor. Some people metabolize caffeine slower than others, making them feel caffeine’s effects longer. If you find that you are still alert in the evening after your coffee, you may be in this group.

What About Decaf?

Those cardiac patients looking to swap the cardiac effects of regular coffee for the experience of having coffee can choose decaf. Even still, decaf does contain caffeine (2 – 5 mg), but well below the level that would significantly affect the heart. Because decaf contains coffee’s protective compounds such as polyphenols, those with rhythm sensitivity or anxiety will also benefit from decaf.

Simple Steps for LA Patients

Small adjustments in your daily routine can have a big impact on improving cardiovascular fitness:

– Know your actual intake. Count all your sources of caffeine over a week and see if you are over your daily recommended dose. This could be something as small as an espresso shot over a cold brew.

– Watch the timing. People with a history of anxiety, palpitations, or issues with sleep should avoid consuming caffeine at all after the lunch hour.

– Pair coffee with water. Los Angeles is dry and keeps people chronically dehydrated. This is a risk of caffeine too, as coffee keeps your heart racing.

– Caution with combinations. Consuming coffee, pre excited workout fuel, and an energy drink spread throughout the day is a common trend in Los Angeles, and this dangerously increases your odds of experiencing anxiety and heart palpitations.

– Listen to your body. Factors of your health such as lightheadedness and worsening shortness of breath are not signs to increase your tolerance to caffeine. It is something serious and should not be overlooked.

When to See a Cardiac Specialist

If you’re having palpitations or a racey heart from drinking coffee, experiencing chest pressure from caffeine, trying to control your blood pressure with medicines or trying to detox from caffeine because of the symptoms you’re experiencing, it’s time to get help.

Schedule a Consultation in Westwood

Caffeine, and the refusal to be a caffeine addict, is completely yours to control. If you’ve got heart problems, either of the chronically elevated blood pressure or the irregular kind, are a walking time bomb with your heart issues due to your family history of cardiac problems, Dr. Maria Tehrani is highly suited to assist you with this.

Serving Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Century