As human beings, we love our caffeine so much that it is the most heavily abused drug on the planet.
Unfortunately, there are severe, undeniable side effects to being addicted. In case you are not sure whether or not you are addicted, if you feel you can not get through your day without it, you are a caffeine addict.
For 20 years of my life, I was in a constant yo-yo state of extreme energy followed by exhaustion. I knew caffeine abuse had a lot to do with it and so I decided to research how much coffee is too much? Thankfully the effects of heavy, prolonged caffeine use have been, and still are, heavily researched.
If you take in more than 600mg a day, (consuming 2 starbucks blonde roasts or 6 red bulls will accomplish this; do your research on your caffeine product of choice) you are likely to suffer from one or all of the following symptoms:
- Insomnia
- Nervousness
- Restlessness
- Irritability
- Stomach upset
- Fast heartbeat
- Muscle tremors
- Trouble staying awake during the day
Like most drugs, it gets worse the more you consume. Tolerance to caffeine builds after about 18 days of prolonged heavy caffeine use; getting you to a point where you need more and more just to feel “normal”.
The final daily impact is the withdrawal; which is pretty insidious with this drug. Withdrawal starts sometime DURING the 8 hours after you finish your last cup of joe. The science is a bit heavy as to when and how this happens, but you definitely get to start feeling it before the 8 hours are up. As you are in between periods of caffeine consumption, some or all of the following symptoms will start to varying degrees depending on your biology.
- Headaches
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty sleeping
- Pain in the stomach and joints
- Poorer academic performance
When abused, caffeine kills focus in multiple and increasingly worse ways, the longer you drink large amounts, the heavier the impact.
Your favorite Hospitality Coach,
Dave
What the Mayo Clinic has to say on the subject: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/NU00600
Some information from a Johns Hopkinss study on it: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/research/BPRU/images/Caffeine_Dependence_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Caffeine content of some popular Starbucks drinks: http://coffeetea.about.com/od/caffeinehealth/a/Starbucks-Caffeine-Contents.htm
A great site geared towards education and contact information for support groups (It is that bad): http://www.thegooddrugsguide.com/addiction-types/drug-addiction/caffeine-abuse.htm
An interesting summary of a lot of studies (A bit out of date, but still very relevant): http://lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain
