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For years, my wife has limited her caffeine intake because it keeps her awake. She won’t even eat coffee ice cream for dessert because she loves her sleep so much. Recently, however, she decided that she was going to give it up and she quickly realized that she was addicted. Her only symptom of what she calls “caffeine withdrawals” were afternoon headaches on the days when she didn’t drink caffeinated beverages. She even had me make her some coffee one afternoon so that her headache would go away.
I, on the other hand, have always claimed that caffeine doesn’t affect me. In my fatter, unhealthier days, it wasn’t uncommon for me to drink 20 ounces of Mountain Dew before bed time and then fall asleep soundly. But then I had a headache one afternoon last week. And another a couple of days later. And then a third. Each day, my wife asked me if I had had coffee that morning–the answer was always “yes.”
But I forgot one small detail. Being the great husband that I am, I had switched my regular coffee for decaf coffee so that my wife could still enjoy her morning cup and I wouldn’t have to make a second pot. But if I was drinking decaf, why wasn’t I getting headaches every day? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Whenever I buy a latte from a coffee shop, I buy a regular one and don’t get a headache on those days. But on the days that I had those headaches, I didn’t have a latte. I guess I’m addicted to caffeine too.
There are worse things that I could be addicted too–like food. It’s a good thing I’m working on that one. In fact, the cover story of March’s Nutrition Action Health Letter breaks down the latest research on caffeine and tells us that caffeine can be good for us–and like everything else, it can also bad for us.
Caffeine is actually a pretty cool molecule. It works by attaching itself to the adenosine receptors located on the surface of brain cells thereby blocking the attachment of adenosine itself.
Adenosine is responsible for preparing the body for sleep by decreasing the talk between nerve cells and dilating blood vessels to increase the flow of oxygen. Since caffeine blocks the adenosine receptors, these things don’t happen and we feel the famous stimulatory effects of caffeine.
The latest research on caffeine suggests that it does much more than just help us wake up in the morning. Here are some things that caffeine may be good for:
- Parkinson’s Disease prevention–drinkers of regular coffee have a 30% lower risk of acquiring Parkinson’s Disease
- Gallstone prevention–drinkers of 2-3 cups of regular coffee per day have a 20% lower risk of developing gallstones.
- Mental Performance–100-200 mg of caffeine has been shown to improve alertness and reaction time in most people.
- Mood–people report general increases in energy, happiness and well being after consuming small to moderate amounts of caffeine AND women who drink at least two cups of coffee per day are 60% less likely to commit suicide.
- Physical performance–caffeine helps the body burn fat and it can reduce pain. Both of these qualities have been shown to increase endurance.
- Headaches–When you get a headache, the blood vessels in your head dilate. Caffeine causes vessel constriction which may help relieve headache pain.
There’s also a long list of things that caffeine may not helpful for including sleep, fertility, miscarriage, birth defects, and migraines. I don’t have migraines, and since I don’t have to worry about the reproductive issues associated with caffeine, I’ve decided not to worry too much about my addiction. If it keeps me from having a headache in the morning, then I say bring on the caffeine. Sorry honey, you’re on your own.
J.D.
15 responses so far ↓
1 elisabeth // Mar 28, 2008 at 7:22 am
Caffeine is almost always equated with coffee, but my caffeine addiction (complete with headaches when I don’t feed it…) is from tea, and until last year when I reduced my once-daily pepsi to about five-ounces a week, cola products. And, of course, chocolate. Fortunately, both tea and dark chocolate also get some good health press. There’s less caffeine in tea, but I still stop at lunch and have only non-caffeinated versions later in the day, in hopes of reducing sleep problems.
2 Eric Nagel // Mar 28, 2008 at 7:57 am
I’m addicted to coffee / caffeine, and I don’t even try to fight it. I drink anywhere from 10-12 “cups” (5-6 mugs) a day and if I don’t, I get massive headaches. Not only that, but if I don’t drink coffee all day long, I tend to fall asleep.
Considering I don’t drink, smoke or do recreational drugs, my coffee addiction isn’t such a bad thing. If I were able to get more sleep at night, I’d probably cut back. But I’m typically drinking coffee ’til about 10pm, and can fall asleep w/in minutes after getting in bed.
3 macdaddy // Mar 28, 2008 at 7:58 am
4 Red // Mar 28, 2008 at 10:18 am
I quit caffeine last summer for a week just to see how hard it would be to break the addiction. The biggest problem was I’d forgotten all the non-coffee sources of caffeine.
At lunch I get Ice Tea, which has caffeine in it (a friend who knew I was trying to break the habit caught me).
I too, had headaches, then noticed they had subsided one afternoon, only to return with a vengeance the next morning. Turns out the 2-3 Diet Dr. Peppers I was drinking helped me out in the short term only to lengthen my agony.
Intellectually, if I had thought about it, I could have told you that these items contained caffeine, but I didn’t realize they were in any significant volume compared to what I normally drink.
5 Josh // Mar 28, 2008 at 11:53 am
In February I stopped consuming caffeine for the most part (no more diet cokes, no more tea, and I don’t like coffee). At the time I was drinking 6+ diet cokes a day. I was so sleepy for the next week. I would sleep 10 hours a night (10pm-8am) and slept like a baby. After a week my sleep had regulated back to normal hours but the quality of sleep remained and I’ll never go back to caffeine.
Luckily, I never get headaches. Maybe I would have when I quit caffeine but it was the same week I started drinking a gallon of water a week and using a foam roller (deep tissue massage) daily.
I think it’s interesting how much caffeine we can really tolerate versus how much actually gives you a mental boost. 100-200mg isn’t really that much. I remember in college taking caffeine/ephedrine like candy. The big brand name Xenadrine was my drug of choice and I’d pop 6+ every morning in order to pay attention in class, I’m guessing that was 100mg + of caffeine and enough ephedrine to, as the media portrays, gives a healthy person a heart attack. (I’ll not get on an ephedrine rant about how tobacco/alcohol kill more people daily than ephedrine has ever killed).
My unconstructive 2 cents.
-Josh
6 Josh // Mar 28, 2008 at 11:54 am
Typo, meant to say 1000mg + caffeine not 100mg, doh.
7 UncleMidriff // Mar 28, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Well I do get migraines and let me tell you, nothing helps or causes migraines for me like caffeine.
It seems to be that as long as I keep my caffeine intake relatively constant, whether the dose is large or small, I’m good. Sure, I’ll still get an odd migraine here or there, but nothing too bad.
Whenever I decide to either increase or decrease my caffeine intake significantly, that’s when I get into trouble, it seems. I’ll get a migraine every other day or so for about a week. And we’re not talking, “Oh, ow, my widdle head feels uncomfortable,” we’re talking vision impairing, so sensitive to light and movement and sound I wanna puke, I’ma go lie down in a dark room for a month kinda migraines.
But, when I get one, the first thing I reach for is off-brand Excedrin Migraine, which is just Tylenol + Caffeine.
To paraphrase Homer: Ahh…Caffeine. The cause of-and solution to- all life’s problems.
8 Mark // Mar 29, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I unknowingly stopped caffeine last summer when I was drinking what I thought was regular coffee at a relative’s house. I was actually drinking decaf and felt crummy for a day or two. I stopped all caffeine for 4 months or so and then started drinking 1 cup of regular coffee a day. I am still on that routine and if I miss a day I don’t feel bad. There is definitely a difference in taste between regular and decaf coffee.
I also drink some caffeine before a hard workout or race as I find it helps me push myself just a little bit more. There has been some evidence of caffeine improving performance in intense aerobic activity.
9 monica // Mar 30, 2008 at 6:00 am
My coffee drinking recently got to a point where it actually made me feel MORE sleepy than awake. So I switched to yerba mate. It’s not caffeine free, but I do notice I feel much better after drinking that than drinking coffee. Trouble is, I might be addicted to mate now. Go figure. =)
10 Pam // Mar 30, 2008 at 7:31 am
As Mac mentioned, I would like to limit my caffeine intake. In in of itself, I have nothing against caffeine, it’s just that I don’t want to wake up and feel that I have to have it to make it through the day. I want it to have the desired effect when I need it - like after a singular late night, or for a race (as Mark noted). But I think most people use caffeine (myself included) to sustain chronic sleep deprivation and the caffeine only helps them to get back to baseline, rather than giving them a mental or physical edge. In one large study done last year, three groups of nurses and doctors were testing in the late afternoon for memory and other tests of mental acuity. One group got a cup of strong coffee before the test, one got a 30 minute nap, and one group served as the control. The coffee group did better than the control group, but the nap group did best of all. Certainly, we don’t all have the luxury to take a 30 minute nap every day, but the study does underscore the power of sleep and shows that caffeine is not an equivalent substitute.
My other issue, is that I tend to “crash” after a big caffeine dose, so that in the afternoons I feel worse than I would normally.
I like my warm cup of coffee, but I am just trying to make it a warm cup of decaf!
11 Tom Green // Mar 30, 2008 at 7:51 am
You both have helpful information on your blog. Thanks for your insights.
Keep up your great work!
tom@runnerslounge.com
12 Philip // Mar 31, 2008 at 9:23 am
Wow, having just graduated college, and starting in the big bad world of business EVERYONE in the office seems to drink coffee. It is the only thing provided in the break room for people. However, I have never liked coffee, but have considered starting to drink it just cause it is there. Now I have started drinking ALOT of water instead, going through about 1.25 gallons a day, and that keeps me awake.
Oh yea, I don’t drink cokes at all any more either.
I don’t want to worry about headaches so I think I will stick with my current plan.
13 Eric Conrad // Mar 31, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I’ll have to agree with Josh listed above. I quit in February this year to see how my life would change. After a few days, my energy levels are UP! I have the same energy from not having caffeine as I do from lots of cardio! I fall asleep faster, and better. I do still have some caffeine occasionally since Feb, but if I don’t for two or three days, the energy comes back. I think it might be time to return to my non-caffeine days…
14 Lisa // Apr 1, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’d be careful thinking that caffeine is good for weight loss. I know the topic of caffeien and its effects is controversial, but a lot of what I’ve read recently suggests the opposite.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeine/HQ00369
http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Caffeine_and_Weight_Gain
http://www.teeccino.com/weightloss.aspx
(yes biased source, but decent refernces)
15 asithi // Apr 2, 2008 at 6:49 am
I started drinking coffee regularly when I started working after college. I love the jolt in the morning, but hated the jittery feeling mid-morning, and the crash in the afternoon. Trying to substitute tea resulted in drinking at least 4 teabags within a two hour period, which probably gave me the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.
When I had a two month break from work while I was in the process of switching jobs last year, I was able to quit for good. But it was a miserable two months, waking up with a headache and lethargic all day. No matter how much sleep I was getting, I was still tired and cranky. Then one day, the symptoms disappeared. I am my former energetic self again in the morning. People talk about drugs, drinking, and smoking with their kids. But caffeine is also an addiction, though acceptable, that should not be encouraged. It really saddens me to hear about my co-worker’s teenage daughter loading up on coffee and energy drinks throughout the day to get through all her high school activities.
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