Verilu Infante 
UTRGV- On Thursday September 26, the UTRGV Student Union, in collaboration with the Athletic Program, celebrated International Coffee Day by offering students a free cup of coffee.
They were offered the choice of decaffeinated or caffeinated coffee, as well as a variety of toppings they would like to have accompanying the beverage.
We surveyed 50 students at UTRGV ranging from the ages 18 to 28 and found out more than 35 of those students drink coffee.
“I feel sleepy if I don’t drink coffee in the morning, and I don’t feel as energetic or I can’t really focus. If I do drink coffee at night it’s because I need to pull an all nighter or I have a lot of work due the next day or stuff like that or to study,” said UTRGV student Alondra Garcia.
Out of those 35, 16 students said they drink more than one cup of coffee a day.
If UTRGV has approximately over 29,500 students enrolled, you can imagine how many of those students drink more than a cup of coffee a day in total.
We spoke with the UTRGV Medical Director of Student Health and Wellness, Cristel Escalona, and asked her about how the effects of coffee can influence the way a student functions.
“So if you do go overboard with coffee, the amount of caffeine you’re ingesting can actually have negative effects, so it would increase your blood pressure, you won’t be able to go to sleep, you’ll have difficulty focusing as opposed to as if you keep it within the two to three cups. You use it to be able to focus and do your job and stay awake and be alert for what it is that you’re doing and if you go overboard you lose some of that,” said Dr. Escalona.
Though there are negatives effects from coffee, there are health benefits to the beverage.
“Coffee has a myriad of health benefits, one being that believe it or not, it gives you a little bit of fiber. It gives you about 1.8 grams and believe it or not we’re not eating enough fiber so you get to drink a little bit of fiber. The other health benefits that it’s had in studies it’s shown that it decreases your incidents of type 2 diabetes, and brain illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimers,” she continued.
Whether you drink coffee or not it is important to remember that sometimes too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
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