The best way to kickstart a fresh morning is with a cup of hot coffee! While coffee can give you a dose of instant energy and refresh your mind, overconsuming it can lead to serious side effects. The reason – Caffeine! So, what is Caffeine? Coffee and even beverages like tea or cocoa are loaded with caffeine, a chemical compound known to have stimulating effects on the mind and body. Taking this element in excess can ruin your system and may even lead to an untimely death. To prevent such problems, we shall help you understand some less known Caffeine side effects on our health.
What Is Caffeine?
Caffeine is derived from the German word “Kaffee”, which literally means Coffee. It is one of the most popular Psychoactive drugs, which is known for relaxing your nerves and giving a soothing effect on the body and brain. It is also known for improving performance by improving mental alertness. Caffeine is taken in the form of coffee, tea, dark chocolates and even pills.
How Does Caffeine Affect Our Body?
Caffeine works by stimulating the central nervous system, which results in the activation of the brain functions. Along with improving the mental alertness, Caffeine can also help in managing headaches, sluggishness and even migraines. However, consuming it in large quantities can also trigger headaches, give you anxiety and even ruin your gut health. It is also a zero-nutrition food and offers no energy value to the body.
Recommended Dosage Of Caffeine In The Body:
So, how much caffeine is too much to the body? As per research about 400mg of Caffeine is considered to be a safe limit to an adult body. That is approximately about 4 cups of coffee, 10 cola drinks or about two caffeine-based energy drinks. Caffeine, in no forms or dosages, is safe for children!
Unexpected Caffeine Side Effects On Health:
To know more about what can go wrong in the body with high levels of caffeine intake; this guide has been provided to you. It will enhance your knowledge about the dark side of this chemical compound Caffeine and its side effects.
1. Increases Anxiety:
With overdoses of caffeine in the daily diet, you might have to face opposite results. Too much of this chemical compound in the body only leads to aggravated anxiety and in extreme cases even to disorders. It can surely have negative effects on the mood and give you mood swings that you really won’t be happy about. This is one of the short term effects of Caffeine.
2. Gives You Chronic Sleeplessness:
Caffeine effects on sleep are quite known to the medical world! Although one of the benefits of caffeine is mental alertness, it prevents the body from taking sleep and rest and leads to situations of insomnia. However, this is only in the case of excessive consumption. A cup or two won’t really do any harm. Difficulty in sleeping will only make you tired and lethargic the next day.
3. Increases Bleeding Disorders:
One of the major negative effects of Caffeine is its effect on your bleeding levels. According to professionals, caffeine is known to aggravate and increase bleeding disorders in people who are already suffering from it. This is one of the side effects of this chemical that you should know about and can lead to serious threats.
4. Shoots Up Heart Beat Rate:
This is one of the very extreme side effects associated with this chemical we famously know as caffeine. An increased heart rate only means higher risks to cardiovascular issues like attacks and strokes and in many cases even lead to death. Make sure you take low levels of caffeine each day and completely avoid if you already have heart issues.
5. Loose Stools and Diarrhoea:
Caffeine if taken in high amounts can tamper the digestive system and lead to accumulation of toxins and bacteria that causes watery bowel movements and lead to what we have known as diarrhoea. It might be one of the subtle side effects but something that is worth being on this list.
6. Can Trigger Nausea and Vomiting:
Among the various side effects of too much caffeine intake, you have to believe that taking more than 1-2 cups usually leads your conditions to nausea and vomiting. This has been a proven fact and is a side effect that causes a lot of discomforts.
See More: Caffeine Uses
7. Can Give You Depression:
Caffeine usually works on the mental state of a person. Overconsumption of caffeinated drinks will affect the brain in a way that can be quite serious. It might over-activate the brain and then all of a sudden start showing reverse effects leading to depression.
8. Increases Blood Pressure:
One of the harmful effects of caffeine is increased blood pressure. People who have high blood pressure problems will only tend to aggravate it more with over-consumption of caffeine. They should cut down these chemicals in the diet as much as possible. Caffeine effects on the heart are also quite serious!
9. Frequent Urination:
Caffeine definitely leads to excessive and frequent urination problems in people. It is a known cause and you can experience it yourself. It might affect the daily lifestyle in a negative manner. This means you should avoid caffeine a little. This is one of the main effects of caffeine on human health.
10. Effects of Central Nervous System And Brain:
Too much of caffeine intake provide you with frequent headache as caffeine it stimulates the central nervous system and also the brain quickly. Though it acts as a remedy for migraine and headache, we need to prevent us from having a negative effect. Overdose of Caffeine can also lead to hallucination and confusion, which is one of the major effects of Caffeine on the nervous system. Sometimes overdose can also consequence death due to the convulsions. Sudden withdrawal would also have a negative impact on us like it may cause tremors. This is one of the unwanted effects of caffeine on the brain.
11. Increases Risk Of Infertility and Miscarriages:
Overdose of caffeine would make it difficult for women to get pregnant as caffeine reduces infertility. Research has shown that caffeine reduces women’s ability to get pregnant by 27%. Having caffeine too much would increase miscarriage risk. Caffeine acts as a stimulant which increases the heart rate of the baby in case of pregnancy. Though little intake of caffeine is not fatal but having too much of it causes serious issues.
12. Impacts Your Digestion:
Acidity is one of the main effects of caffeine on the body. It also causes stomach upset, indigestion, and heartburn. Those people having serious indigestion problem or stomach issues like ulcer, it is preferable not to have it frequently or get some suggestion from the doctor. Caffeine is not exactly a thirst quencher and it does not act as an alternative of water as it causes the body to get rid of water. The water level of the body gets lowered with the overdose of caffeine. In fact, the sudden withdrawal of caffeine would cause vomiting and nausea.
13. Increases Osteoporosis:
It causes bone-thinning or osteoporosis with a larger intake of caffeine. There is a risk of bone fracture which is mainly dependent on the amount of caffeine intake. Caffeine interferes with the absorption of calcium and it gets flushed out with the urine. People suffering from osteoporosis or weak bones need to take action by limiting the intake capacity of caffeine. We need to restrict us to 2-3 cups of coffee per day. Vitamin D and calcium get bind together for bone formation which may cause a problem mainly for those who are having inherited disorder.
See More: How To Use Caffeine For Weight Loss
14. Bipolar Disorder:
Anyone who is basically suffering from bipolar disorder would have a worse effect if they increase their caffeine intake. It is recommended to restrict it to the low amount otherwise it would have huge impact on your health. Caffeine activates the bipolar disorder to a higher level which would cause serious issues. Just have caffeine in a controlled manner. Various energy drinks or other substances contain caffeine to some percentage, so we must check it while having them.
15. Breast Tissue Cyst In Women:
Many studies have shown that women summing a lesser amount of caffeine have less risk of fibrocystic breast disease than those who are having more amount of caffeine. Researchers have proved that it has a serious issue as we increase the intake of caffeine and would cause benign breast cyst. No serious danger is caused due to benign breast cyst but the breast would feel sore and it looks lumpy. It is seen that lowering the caffeine intake reduces the number and also the size of the cysts. So it must be checked properly while having a food item, who knows if it contains a small percentage of caffeine and we are having it frequently.
16. Gives You Sharp Headaches:
Taking Caffeine in large quantities can overactive your nervous system and give you major headaches. Even a sudden withdrawal of Caffeine can be quite annoying and trigger shooting headaches. Your brain is constantly used to the effects of Caffeine and makes it difficult to sustain without it. This is why you feel awkward without your morning cup of Coffee.
17. Gives You Gastrointestinal Problems:
Caffeine can increase your anxiety levels, which in turn can affect your gastro health. It can trigger acid refluxes and your colon activities. Caffeine is also a laxative that can increase the muscle contractions in your digestive system and trigger frequent bowel movements. This is why taking more amount of Coffee is not advised.
18. Dehydration and Dryness Of Mouth:
Caffeine acts as a diuretic. When it is accumulated in excess, Caffeine can flush out water from the body and dehydrate it. Excessive dehydration can lead to heart problems, dryness of mouth and even cracked skin. If you already suffer from frequent urination problems or kidney disorders, stay away from Caffeine!
19. May Induce Menstrual Problems:
If you have PMS problems, Caffeine can worsen it! Caffeine is known to induce severe menstrual cramps, stomach problems and an imbalance of emotions. As per studies, Caffeine can give you a long period times. The diuretic effects of Caffeine may give you heavy bleeding and painful cramps.
20. Obesity:
Having Caffeine in excess can give you a sudden weight gain. It triggers nervousness, insomnia and stress, which may affect your eating habits. This is why too many cups of coffee or tea can increase your calorie count, along with abnormal retention of fat cells in the body.
21. May Cause Hallucinations:
Caffeine is known to give Hallucinations that comes from a high feeling due to overactivation of brain functionality. Taking Caffeine based beverages in excess is known to increases a tendency of hearing voices, talking to themselves and even see people who are not there. These effects, however, may be temporary!
See More: Black Cofee For Weight Loss
22. May Causes Allergies:
Caffeine may trigger certain allergic reactions in people, who are sensitive to this agent. Some of the major symptoms experienced are headache, jitteriness, irritability, anxiety, increased heartbeat, etc., It can also increase your chances of allergies by weakening the immune system.
23. Dangerous for Diabetes Type-2 patients:
Caffeine can increase blood sugar levels when had in excess. It also decreases your insulin sensitivity, making to all the more difficult for Diabetes patients. Studies also show that Caffeine affects your carbohydrates metabolism, and hence is not recommended for chronic diabetic patients.
24. Inhibits Collagen Production in Skin:
Those who consume Caffeine in excessive quantities may develop wrinkles and signs of ageing due to Collagen loss. Caffeine is known to reduce the synthesis of Collagen, which is essential for your skin health. This is why Caffeine addicts have elderly appearance due to Collagen damage. This is one of the major Caffeine side effects on the skin.
25. May Impairs Hearing:
Another reason why Caffeine may be bad for you is its impact on your ears. Those who are induced with overdosage of caffeine may experience a hearing loss, which might sometimes be irreversible. Combining Caffeine with a TTS (Temporary Threshold Shift) in high acoustics can lead to permanent damage to your ears.
26. Triggers Acne:
Wondering why your face is filled with ugly spots and pimples? It could be because of overloading your body with caffeine. While Caffeine may directly not contribute to acne, it can increase stress in your body that may trigger hormonal imbalance. This is what causes breakouts on your face and body
Now that you have understood the caffeine side effects, it’s time to control your Coffee cravings! While Coffee may invigorate your senses and give you an instant feeling of “high”, consuming it in excess is sure to damage your body and mind. Apart from Coffee, the so-called “energy” drinks are also very dangerous and are not the recommended ways to boost your energy system. So, measure out your life with the number of Coffee spoons you take every day!