Here’s one way to give your employees a quick pick-me-up: Post this at your company’s watering (coffee) hole.
A 13-year-long study has determined that drinking several cups of coffee or tea each day can reduce one’s risk of heart disease by one-third.
The research was conducted in the Netherlands and studied the effects of coffee and tea on 40,000 people.
Some of the findings:
- Those who drank six cups of tea a day cut their risk of heart disease by as much as 33%
- Drinking between two and four cups of coffee each day was found to lower a person’s risk — but after four cups, the protective effect disappeared, and
- Coffee — while potentially raising cholesterol levels when cream is added to it — battles the inflammatory damage linked to heart disease.
This study adds to the growing body of research that has concluded that drinking coffee does provide some health benefits.
Example: The American Heart Association found that drinking two to four cups per day can lower one’s risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as 20%.
Of course your wellness program shouldn’t be ditched for a bigger coffee pot, but it should be comforting to know that drinking coffee and tea in moderation isn’t harmful for your workers.
However, it should be mentioned that if your workers smoke a cigarette with their cup of Joe — or dunk a donut into it — the morning ritual starts to have a different effect on the body.