Should I Stop Taking Coffee?

Coffee!!

I've been pondering on that question for some time. I've been a coffee drinker probably since I was ten years old.  My stomach couldn't handle having milk or chocolate or juice drinks early in the morning when I have breakfast before going to school. I tend to vomit it all out or get that queasy, unsettling feeling.  Coffee seems to be the only satisfying early morning beverage for me.  So, it was and still is a habit up to this day.  But since having hypertension, I was thinking if it is a strong reason for me to eventually stop drinking coffee.  

There were various studies linking the caffeine in coffee and hypertension.  Caffeine is considered as a stimulant, but a mild one at that.  In this certain article, it says that stimulants can constrict blood vessels that may result in higher pressure.  But apparently, out of the 85,000 women studied over a decade, all of them coffee drinkers with some even drinking up to six cups of coffee per day, no one showed a considerable risk for developing hypertension and heart related diseases.  For a coffee drinker like me, I could only let out a relieved sigh with that piece of information.

In another study, it also says that coffee improves or may improve the elasticity of blood vessels.  Also in this article, a conclusion is drawn that coffee plays a very small effect on the development of high blood pressure.  More good news for a coffee lover.  But this article in Livestrong says otherwise. Mayo Clinic also suggests refraining from beverages with caffeine just before doing activities that will increase blood pressure such as doing workouts or exercises.

Now, where does that leave me with all these pieces of information contradicting each other?  Nowhere nearer to any conclusion, that's where I am.  I do know that if I suddenly stop taking in coffee, I get headaches.  In fact, coffee relieves my occasional migraine attacks.  I think, I need to research further.  For now, I'll just take coffee in moderation, that is, my usual 2-3 cups per day.  I'll also try this simple experiment of measuring my blood pressure before and after having coffee.  Let's see if I get any progress there.  After all, each one reacts to certain foods differently.  I'll see how I fare, before deciding if I really need to ditch coffee or not.  

When it comes to health, if it comes to giving up some things we enjoy so we could stay healthy, then it should not be a difficult choice.  The body would need to adjust, of course, but a choice and a conscious decision should first be made, right?