Coffee addiction: main signs, possible consequences, treatment methods, reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Coffee is a fragrant and invigorating drink. A cup of hot coffee in the morning is an indispensable attribute of a huge number of people in small towns and megacities. It is known that even a small amount of this wonderful drink is enough to wake up easily. It gives a charge of vivacity, maintains a comfortable state throughout the day. Today we want to touch on the other side of the issue and find out if there is an addiction to coffee.

What is the benefit of an invigorating drink

Caffeine, the main ingredient in coffee, is even beneficial in limited doses. It accelerates blood circulation, excites the nervous system, and has an invigorating effect. According to studies, this component protects the brain from cognitive impairment, relieves headaches, reduces the risk of dementia in older women, and promotes weight loss. However, we note that the use of caffeine should be treated with extreme caution: it contributes to an increase in pressure, and due to the content of substances such astheobromine and theophylline, addictive.

How much coffee to drink

Experts recommend drinking no more than 4 small cups of coffee a day. If the allowable amount is exceeded, side effects may occur: irritability, anxiety, heart palpitations, indigestion, nervousness. Other unpleasant consequences of overloading the body with this component include muscle spasms, insomnia, and the twitching eye effect.

Drink addiction

Is coffee addictive? We can definitely say that yes, but caffeine is not a drug, and therefore such dependence is not a big problem for the human body, although in general it still has a negative effect on it.

Note that caffeine, in addition to coffee, is found in energy drinks, sweet soda, cocoa, chocolate and even tea. For this reason, we use this component much more often than we would like.

How caffeine affects the body

In moderation, coffee does not harm the body and does not cause addiction. Loss of control over the amount most often occurs due to the effect on the body of the main component of coffee - caffeine. It helps to increase the sensitivity of dopamine receptors, which cause a deceptive feeling of happiness and contentment.

It is known that caffeine is an antagonist of adenosine receptors, which allows it to influence the human condition: drive away drowsiness and inspire a feeling of cheerfulness.

It cannot be said that caffeine affects the work of the heart, stimulates the nervous system, and increases blood pressure. Dependence on coffee in this case can be harmful to he alth. It is for this reason that it is undesirable to use it for people with high blood pressure. In addition, caffeine stimulates the secretion of gastric juice and causes the urge to urinate. However, all of the listed negative manifestations will only make themselves felt if the permissible rate of coffee consumption is exceeded.

Reasons for appearance

Very often the cause of coffee addiction can be uncontrolled consumption of the drink. If you drink it in the evening, just before going to bed, it can cause insomnia. As a result, in the morning a person gets up sleepy and drinks coffee again, but now in order to wake up. A new portion of coffee - in order not to fall asleep closer to dinner, it is consumed in even greater quantities. In the evening, a drink is needed in order to finish unfinished business, etc. Then everything is repeated in a circle. Therefore, our body very quickly gets used to caffeine. It stops producing hormones that are necessary for the normal functioning of the nervous system. Further, in order to stimulate the state of cheerfulness, a person uses an increasing dose. This is how coffee is addictive.

How to identify

The reaction to excess caffeine in the human body can be different and depends on individual sensitivity to this irritant. It should be noted that those people who rarely drink coffee are more likely toare particularly susceptible to adverse effects at higher doses. There are a number of other factors: age, medication use, body weight, general he alth. Scientists suggest that the female body processes caffeine much better and faster than the male.

You can definitely say that you have become addicted to coffee if you have the following symptoms:

• irritated in the morning until coffee is drunk;
• drinking five or more cups of coffee a day;
• severe headaches without drinking;
• Feeling restless and nervous.

Coffee Addiction: Signs

In this part of the article we will talk about the signs that accompany such an addiction. Most likely, if you find at least one of the signs listed below, you are prone to this disease. These include:

• frequent headaches;
• chronic insomnia;
• scattered attention.

Signs of addiction include the following factor: drinking caffeinated drinks or foods, knowing that you are addicted to caffeine.

Caffeine poisoning

It is known that 4-5 cups of strong coffee contains a little more than 500 mg of caffeine, a high amount of which can cause intoxication of the body even in a he althy person. Approximately this amount of coffee is drunk per day by true coffee lovers, and sometimes this figure is even higher. Atcaffeine poisoning in coffee addiction symptoms are as follows:

• anxiety;
• facial redness;
• irritability;
• increased diuresis;
• arrhythmia;
• indigestion.

When excess caffeine enters the body, photophobia, confusion of consciousness and speech, tremor of the limbs appear. Very often, with daily poisoning with a coffee component, the human body goes into a completely new, unusual mode of operation for it, coffee becomes the only way to spend the day in the usual rhythm. If coffee is consumed in less quantity, it is more difficult for a person to cope with simple tasks that are familiar to him, he feels tired and even depressed.

What to do

How to get rid of addiction to coffee? We can definitely say that compared to others, for example, alcohol and drugs, coping with coffee addiction is not so difficult. There are several ways.

The first one is extreme. Its essence is that it is necessary to completely abandon the drink for several days. With a strong dependence on coffee during this period, well-being can significantly worsen, irritability, loss of strength, and headache will appear. Not bad if these days fall on the weekend. You need to go without coffee for at least three days, and if this interval is longer, even better. During this time, you will bring your body back to normal, after which even one cup of your favorite drink can give you joy andcheerfulness. Do not start again to abuse coffee, two or three cups a day are enough to get pleasure. It is not recommended to drink coffee in the evening. According to people who have encountered this problem, this is a fairly effective way.

The second way to solve the problem of addiction to coffee is more gentle. It is necessary to gradually reduce the usual dose. It is not recommended to drink two cups of coffee in a row, one after the other. Even if you experience discomfort, you should endure. Every day, make the interval between coffee intakes longer, bringing over time to the norm, which is equal to two or three cups a day.

For those who decide to completely give up coffee, the third method is suitable. It consists in finding a worthy replacement for this drink, especially since this is not difficult to do. However, if you choose black tea as a substitute, this is not advisable, as it contains the same amount of caffeine. In extreme cases, it is better to use green tea. The best option would be freshly squeezed juices, such as orange, which can provide energy for the whole day.

Fourth way: according to reviews, exercise is a great alternative. First of all, they perfectly help to deal with stress, survive the rejection of your favorite drink or reduce its amount. In addition, sports loads have exactly the same effect as coffee. Morning jogging gives the body an unusual surge of strength, helps to relieve sleepiness. Ultimately physicalloads will have a positive effect on your he alth, will affect your appearance and figure.

Contraindications for use

Please note: caffeine has an adverse effect on the state of hypertensive patients. People with high blood pressure should drink this drink with extreme caution. By the way, as for hypotensive patients, natural caffeine helps them raise their blood pressure, however, only for a short period.

Eating coffee can be especially harmful to a person if he suffers from chronic diseases of the digestive system, such as:

• gastritis of all kinds;
• biliary dyskinesia;
• peptic ulcer.

This is due to the fact that the drink has a choleretic effect and significantly increases the acidity of gastric juice, stimulates the secretion of pancreatic juice. People with peptic ulcers should not drink coffee!

In diseases associated with the genitourinary system, when drinking coffee, you should drink plenty of fluids. The invigorating drink has a diuretic effect, although rather mild. You should know that if a person has diseased kidneys, even a small amount of drink can speed up their work to a large extent, this can lead to dehydration of the body, which, in turn, will have a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system.