10 Facts About Caffeine, Its Risks, Its Side Effects, Its Withdrawal & More

Last Updated on 2024-03-29 , 4:53 pm

How much do you really know about caffeine, its risks, its side effects and its withdrawal?

With an endless repository of TV shows on Netflix and not enough hours in the day, many of us stay up late every night to catch a few more episodes.

Then, our deafening alarm slaps us awake a few hours later and it’s time for work. The only problem is that we feel like we’ve just woken up from a 7-year coma and leaving our house seems like an impossible task.

In this instance, most of us would grab a cup of coffee or tea for that much-needed dose of caffeine.

An hour later, we feel like superman on cocaine and can handle anything that comes our way.

But how much do we really know about this chemical stimulant? And how exactly does it work?

Here are 10 facts about caffeine, the thing everyone needs to start their day.

Caffeine Tricks Your Brain into Feeling More Alert

Caffeine itself doesn’t make you feel more alert. It simply blocks your brain from making you feel tired.

See, we feel sleepy thanks to adenosine, a neurotransmitter that tells your brain it’s tired. Throughout the day, the levels of adenosine in your brain rise every hour making you sleepier as the day progresses.

When caffeine enters your system, it binds itself to the adenosine receptors in your brain because it has a similar molecular structure.

By doing this, it’s blocking adenosine, and preventing you from feeling tired.

It’s Defined as a Drug

Unbeknownst to you, you and your colleagues have been doing drugs in the office every morning before starting work.

Yes, caffeine is defined as a stimulant drug because it stimulates the central nervous system, causing increased alertness.

This is why…

You Can Become Addicted to Caffeine 

Remember the adenosine receptors we talked about? Well, since caffeine blocks these receptors, if you drink enough coffee over time, the brain will develop even more of them.

Consequently, the chemistry of your brain will change and you’ll have to drink even more coffee to feel the same stimulating effect.

And it doesn’t take much to get addicted. According to TIME, as little as 100 mg of caffeine every day is enough to get an adult hooked.

This also means that…

Caffeine Withdrawal is a Real Thing

Yes, it’s possible to suffer withdrawal from caffeine, and not too long after your last cup of coffee.

In fact, if you’re a regular drinker and stop abruptly, you could exhibit withdrawal symptoms within 12 to 24 hours later, according to Live Science.

This is why people who regularly drink caffeine wake up feeling groggy or with a headache – they are experiencing withdrawal symptoms from yesterday’s coffee. This goes away once they have their morning coffee fix.

Other symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include an inability to concentrate, confusion, fatigue, irritability, and depressed mood.

Caffeine withdrawal is now recognized as a mental disorder, so don’t go too hard on the coffee or Red Bull.

Actually, speaking of Red Bull…

Energy Drinks Still Don’t Have as Much Caffeine as Coffee

It might give you wings, but Red Bull, and other energy drinks, aren’t as stimulating as they claim to be.

Many energy drinks claim that within minutes of drinking a can you’d be able to run 5 marathons and fly to the moon, but they typically have less caffeine than a cup of coffee.

A 250ml serving of Red Bull, for instance, only has 76 to 80mg of caffeine, compared to 95 to 200mg in a typical cup of coffee.

Energy drinks are just loaded with lots of sugar, which account for the after-drink buzz.

You Can Actually Die From Too Much Caffeine

He died doing what he loved – drinking coffee. 

Yes, if consumed in large enough amounts, caffeine can actually kill you.

You’d have to drink around 50 to 100 cups of coffee in a few hours, however (typically more than 5 grams), around the same amount of bubble tea Singaporeans drink daily.

While it’s rare, death from overdosing on powdered caffeine and caffeine pills have been reported.

It Only Takes 10 Minutes For Caffeine to Kick in

If you feel more alert within minutes of sipping your morning brew, you’re not imagining it.

Studies have shown that the effects of caffeine in coffee or even soft drinks are noticeable after just 10 minutes.

It then takes about 30 to 60 minutes for caffeine to reach its peak level in the blood.

The body will eliminate half of the consumed caffeine within three to five hours, and the remainder can stay in the body for 8 to 14 hours.

Caffeine affects everyone differently, though, as some are more sensitive than others.

Tea Leaves Have Higher Caffeine Content Than Coffee Beans

Try wrapping your head around this: tea leaves have a higher caffeine content than coffee beans, but a cup of coffee has a higher caffeine content than a cup of tea.

Reader: I tried and my brain hurts

It has to do with the brewing process. Due to the weaker style of brewing, tea is usually much less caffeinate than coffee, even though its leaves have more caffeine than coffee beans.

Tea also contains tannins, a molecular compound that slows the absorption of caffeine.

It May Have Several Health Benefits

Caffeine may have a number of health benefits, as some studies have shown.

One study at Johns Hopkins showed that it had a positive effect on long-term memory. It may also reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

And it may make you happier as well; when adenosine is blocked, production of dopamine – the neurotransmitter associated with the ability to experience pleasure – increases, improving your mood.

It has numerous other reported health benefits, but…

It Also Has a Dark Side

Late at night, when everyone is asleep, caffeine roams the streets looking for unsuspecting victims to torture for its own gratification.

Okay, not really.

Caffeine can also have several negative effects on your mind and body, such as increasing anxiety, sleeplessness, and even causing psychosis.

When consumed in high doses, it can also cause vomiting, convulsions, coma, and as we previously mentioned death. 

This would require a large amount, though, and most coffee drinkers don’t feel such effects.

So, you can carry on with your daily cup or two of coffee, but you might want to cut down on your 76 cups of bubble tea every day, as it also has caffeine.