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Reduce post-workout muscle pain – by drinking two cups of coffee before you start exercising.It may sound a little unlikely, but a recent study indicates that drinking coffee can reduce the muscle pain you feel after a workout. More specifically, the study looked just at women who were not habitual coffee drinkers. It was in this group that drinking two cups of coffee before a workout seemed to help so much in reducing muscle pain. (If it worked for the women in the study, we don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work for men either. Not that we’re medical experts.) Here’s what researcher Patrick O'Connor of the department of kinesiology at the University of Georgia said... "A lot of times what people use for muscle pain is drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen, but caffeine seems to work better than those drugs, at least among women whose daily caffeine consumption is low." Better than aspirin or ibuprofen? That’s pretty amazing, when you think of the number of people who take over the counter pain killers to ease their muscle pain after exercise. The researchers did add one cautionary note, however. Two cups of coffee, for the caffeine, is about right. But don’t go crazy and have five coffees instead. You may end up having heart palpitations or, at least, a case of the jitters. Anyway, it’s good to read about yet another study that shows coffee lovers some of the benefits of drinking our favorite brew.
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