Is Caffeine Bad for You?

If you ask someone to name the most widely used psychoactive drug, he or she is likely to name marijuana, LSD or some other type of street drug -- and he or she would be wrong. The correct answer is one which many people do not think of as a drug, largely due to the fact that it is so ubiquitous in our society: caffeine.

The vast majority -- 90 percent -- of American adults consumes caffeine in some form every day, whether it is in coffee, tea, soda or energy drinks, and some even take it in more direct forms such as in caffeine pills. Unlike most other drugs, caffeine is fully legal for purchase in nearly every corner of the world, but this fact does not make it safe for consumption.

Caffeine is notoriously addictive, and its consumption can cause many harmful effects, whether it is taken in a single large dose or in smaller amounts over a long period of time. To understand how it is that caffeine may be harmful to an individual, one of the first things to understand is what exactly it is. Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance which is produced by certain plants, and its purpose is to serve as a pesticide. Insects that would otherwise devour the plants become paralyzed after eating a small amount, followed by death by poisoning.

Contrary to popular belief, consuming caffeine does not give you energy. Instead, it inhibits the function of a chemical in the brain which is associated with feeling drowsy. In other words, caffeine does not give you an energy boost, but instead simply staves off fatigue. Further, the increased levels of alertness and mental performance which are associated with caffeine consumption are not actually above and beyond the person’s normal levels, but are rather the effect of recovering from the early symptoms of withdrawal, according to a recent study conducted at Johns Hopkins University.

When you feel better after having your cup of coffee, this is simply a result of the fact that you are now no longer suffering from withdrawal. Regularly consuming caffeine, therefore, does not give you a mental edge; it gives you a handicap which you must continually fight to stay ahead of by repeatedly satisfying your dependence to this central nervous stimulant.

Dangers Of Caffeine Consumption

The effects of missing your regular caffeine dose -- drowsiness, slower thinking, headaches and irritability -- are usually bothersome but not overwhelming. The problem becomes more serious, however, when the individual has grown accustomed to consuming considerable amounts of the drug. The Mayo Clinic lists common side effects of heavy daily caffeine use as including insomnia, restlessness, muscle tremors, fast heartbeat and nervousness. Conditions such as these can have considerable ramifications, such as when insomnia causes serious sleep deprivation and a resultant inability to function during the day as well as reduced immune system performance.

It is not only the long-term health effects of caffeine which are cause for concern. The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) recently published a warning concerning a dramatic increase in the number of emergency room visits for patients who had been consuming large quantities of caffeine in energy drinks such as Monster and Red Bull, and the Food and Drug Administration is currently investigating a number of deaths which have been linked to these high-caffeine drinks.

Given that caffeine seems to be everywhere in today’s society and that it may be a significant part of your own life, it can be difficult to give the drug up all at once. If you are concerned about the risks that caffeine poses to your health, you should at least start by scaling back on you consumption, working your way down to no more than one drink per day. Then, work towards a life without drugs, including caffeine.

It may be difficult to get over the hump of withdrawal symptoms, but once you do it will be well worth it as you begin to wake up in the morning without craving the drug that so many other Americans do.