Starting off your morning with a cup of tea and having that coffee to keep yourself energized throughout is a practice followed by most people.
While there are various types of coffees ranging from
Americano to Frappuccino and from latte to Frappuccino, some people out there
are really proud of their caffeine addiction and coffee consumption. Little do
you know that the beverage you all have been consuming due to its taste or to
keep yourself energetic can actually have some downsides and can affect your
health. While consuming coffee is not a bad thing, overconsumption can surely
have some consequences. Here is everything that you need to know about caffeine
addiction:-
What Is Caffeine?
Where we all have about caffeine addiction and its side
effects, it is really important to know what caffeine actually is. To
understand it in a simple manner, caffeine is a stimulant of the central
nervous system that is commonly found in beverages such as tea and coffee.
Caffeine is said to be the most consumed psychoactive drug in the world.
Caffeine is said to help a person stay awake and reduce
tiredness. When consumed, caffeine easily gets absorbed into the bloodstream
through the gut and then breaks down to affect the functions of various organs.
Caffeine works by blocking the effects of adenosine which works by relaxing the
brain and hence makes you feel tired. Moreover, caffeine is also responsible for
increasing the levels of adrenaline in the blood and hence increasing the activity of
norepinephrine and dopamine neurotransmitters.
What is caffeine addiction?
As we have learnt about what caffeine actually is? and the
ways in which it works? let us take a minute to know about what caffeine
addiction really is and how it can affect our overall health. Where caffeine
helps to keep you awake and energetic, it surely has some downsides to it as
well. In its truest form coffee or caffeine is a drug. In the short term, it
does have its positive benefits as it can provide you with elevated energy
levels, enhance performance, help to focus better and keep you alert. With
all these benefits it has some demerits of its own as well. At the end of the
day, it is an addiction and your body creates a tolerance towards caffeine. This
means that over time caffeine will stop acting and hence you will need to
increase your caffeine intake in order to get the same results. Until 400mg or
10 cups of coffee, the pronounced adverse effects of caffeine do not kick in.
Overconsumption of coffee can result in bad or disturbed sleep, increased heart
rate, anxiety, acidity, etc. Although caffeine does have its negatives, it is
not all bad.
Like everything else coffee has its positives and negatives
as well. Consuming coffee in a limited amount can be beneficial and help you in
various ways whereas the overconsumption of the same has its own downsides and
can affect your health.
Symptoms of Caffeine Addiction
Symptoms are something that helps us in assessing a
condition or disease at an early stage. Knowing about the symptoms of a
condition can help in retrospection it and getting a timely treatment. Here are
some of the symptoms of caffeine addiction that will help you to know if you
are consuming too much caffeine on a regular basis and if you are addicted to
it.
Side effects of caffeine Addiction
As said even the coin has two sides so how can caffeine or
coffee be spared. With its magnificent benefits like decreased fatigue,
improved alertness, better mental functioning and improved memory,
overconsumption of caffeine-containing beverages can have downsides of its own.
From increased heart rate to disturbed sleep, here are a few side effects of
caffeine addiction that you need to know about-
1. Disturbed Sleep
Where we all have been consuming coffee the night before an
exam or that important presentation to keep ourselves awake, it is important to
know that overconsumption of caffeine can result in insomnia or disturbed
sleep. Consuming too much caffeine can actually make it difficult to get proper
restorative sleep. According to some studies, overconsumption of coffee over a
long period of time can result in sleeping difficulty in elderlies.
2. High Blood Pressure
It is important to know that an overconsumption of caffeine
is caused due to caffeine addiction. Various studies show that caffeine
consumption can result in high blood pressure which leads to damaged arteries,
stroke, heart attacks, and restricted blood flow. Due to this increase in high
blood pressure, caffeine can have a direct impact on your heart health.
3. Digestion Issues
Where a cup of coffee or tea in the morning is something
people use to get the bowls moving. Due to its laxative effects caffeine leads
to the release of a hormone that is commonly known as gastrin which helps in
speeding up the colon activity. Where this increased colon activity can be
helpful for people, it can also lead to digestive issues such as diarrhea in
some due to overconsumption of caffeine.
4. Increased Heart Rate
While keeping your heart healthy should be your first
priority in order to lead a healthy life, it is important to know that caffeine
addiction is something that can lead to complications in your cardiovascular
health. High intake of caffeine can have some stimulatory effects which results
in an increase and rapid heart rate.
5. Rhabdomyolysis
caffeine addiction that leads to an overconsumption of
caffeine can actually result in rhabdomyolysis which is a condition in which
the damaged muscle fibers enter the bloodstream and causes complications such
as kidney failure.
💡Tips to control caffeine Addiction
By now you know all about the symptoms of caffeine addiction
and the downsides of it. Knowing all this should be alarming enough for you to
decrease your caffeine intake and consume it in moderation. We understand that
when something turns into an addiction it can be quite difficult to manage its
intake. Here are some tips that you can follow to overcome your caffeine
addiction and keep conditions such as insomnia and rhabdomyolysis at bay.
• Pay Attention- Where coffee helps you to
stay attentive, it is high that you pay attention, to the way you feel after
consuming caffeine. It is not just the physical symptoms but the mental effects of
caffeine intake as well that a person needs to pay attention to.
• Assess Intake- An important thing that you
need to take into consideration when controlling your caffeine addiction is
what amount of caffeine you are consuming on a regular basis. Where it is not
just your cup of tea or coffee that consists of caffeine but soft drinks as
well.
Everything is good and healthy if consumed within a limit, where overconsumption of healthy substances can also lead to various complications and might result in diseases. Caffeine or coffee is not a villain of your life or a foe to your health but can actually benefit you in ways when consumed in restricted quantities. Addiction to such substances can result in various illnesses and have adverse effects on your health over time.