How can your daily cups of tea or coffee affect your life negatively?

I live in a family of 10 people out of which 6 are addicted to caffeine. In my entire life, I have come across people who start their day with a cup of tea or coffee, which is desirable to many, but at times when they don’t get it, they don’t feel well. They have headaches. They are just not able to function properly. And one thing I have learned throughout my life is that I will not allow myself to get addicted to caffeine and just try to prevent people around me from at least limiting caffeine in their lives.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. It’s the world’s most widely used psychoactive drug. It’s legal and unregulated in nearly all countries. It is widely consumed to increase alertness and is possibly effective for athletic performance, memory, acute pain and headache. Caffeine consumption is generally considered safe, although habit-forming.

 Excessive caffeine intake can cause insomnia, nervousness and restlessness, stomach irritation, nausea, increased heart rate and respiration. Larger doses might cause headaches, anxiety, agitation, and chest pain. An increase in blood pressure due to caffeine, can also lead to strain on the kidneys. It has also been linked to kidney stones.

Just like any other drug, your body can get used to caffeine and require more of it to produce the effect that it did in the beginning. For instance, when you start drinking alcohol, in the initial stages small doses of alcohol hit you but with time and regular consumption, you develop resistance to the drug and ultimately you increase the intake to produce the desired results. And this is how you develop a dependency on the drug.

 One of the most evident signs of caffeine dependency is the inability to do your daily chores without its consumption. You just have to have it to do your daily set of functions. You may also notice you have a dependence on caffeine if you’ve tried to stop consuming it and are unable to stop. The most common symptoms of withdrawal are fatigue, low energy, drowsiness, depressed mood, irritability, etc.

Caffeine withdrawal may seem unbearable at first, this temporary reaction is just a bump in the road to limiting your dependence. Everyone wishes to be independent in their lives in all forms and this addiction can be a bump. It’s not bad to consume caffeine, but dependence on caffeine is undesirable. While it’s true that caffeine doesn’t destroy lives like hard drugs, it’s also true that it has the power to lead to powerful addictions.

It is always good just to give up all your addictions and just live your life independently.

This blog is written by Prachi Khurana.