Is It Safe For The Heart To Have Coffee Before Jogging?

With its high caffeine content, a cup of coffee can be a great way to reap the benefits of this powerful compound. Although the temporary boost in blood pressure and heart rate that comes with a cup of coffee is safe for most people, it may be dangerous under certain situations. As jogging has similar effects on your heart rate and blood pressure, drinking a cup of coffee before jogging may be dangerous for people with cardiovascular conditions.

Benefits

As Peta Bee reports in the August 13, 2005 issue of "The Times," drinking coffee before exercise can boost your performance. While larger amounts may not have the same positive effects, the equivalent of a cup or two of coffee before your workout can boost your stamina. In addition to helping you jog faster and for longer periods of time, Bee reports that coffee contains substances that trigger your body to preferentially burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Due to this increase in fat burning and exercise performance, a cup or two of coffee before your workouts can lead to long-term heart health benefits.

High Blood Pressure

Similar to other types of physical activity, jogging causes a temporary increase in blood pressure to meet your body's needs. Drinking coffee before jogging can further elevate your blood pressure throughout your workout. While people with healthy blood pressure may not experience negative effects from drinking coffee before jogging, this can be risky for people with chronically high blood pressure. Otherwise known as hypertension, people with this condition should avoid coffee before exercise to reduce their risk of developing dangerously high blood pressure levels.

Blood Flow

In the January 2006 issue of the "Journal of the American College of Cardiology," researchers at the University of Zurich, Switzerland noted that a cup or two of coffee can lower blood flow to the heart during exercise. While these researchers observed that it has no negative impact on healthy people, this decrease in blood flow can be dangerous if you have coronary artery disease. As your heart works harder during exercise, the combined effects of blockages in your arteries and caffeine can lead to an extreme imbalance between the amount of blood that your heart needs and receives. To reduce your risk of heart damage or failure due to this imbalance, avoid coffee before jogging if your have coronary artery disease.

Heart Attack

Caffeine increases sympathetic nervous activity, triggering your body's "fight or flight" response. This has a range of effects, including an increase in your heart rate, blood pressure and levels of stress hormones. As Bootie Cosgrove-Mather reports in the March 5, 2009 online issue of "CBS News," these effects can trigger a heart attack in infrequent coffee drinkers who are at high risk of heart attack. As physical activity causes similar effects, jogging after drinking coffee can greatly increase your risk of a heart attack if you do not regularly consume caffeine.