Caffeine and Anxiety – Are You Increasing Your Anxiety Levels?

Most of us can not get up in the  morning and start the working day without a nice strong cup of coffee. If you are like most people then chance are that you rely on caffeine to give you that extra boost of energy through out the day.

The problem with consuming caffeine is that it can increase your anxiety levels. Caffeine is a strong chemical that can lead to many chemical changes in your body. With psychoactive effects, caffeine is often overlooked by many people who suffer anxiety and panic attacks as a potential for increased anxiety and unease.

Apart from giving you a temporary energy boost, caffeine can increase stress levels, depression and insomnia as it changes many chemicals in our body including our levels of Adenosine. Adenosine is the natural chemical that our body produces to take our anxiety levels, simply put, it’s our bodies way of helping us relax by trying to put us in a tranquil state.

Another hormone that can wreak havoc on your anxiety levels is adrenaline. Caffeine increasing the release of this hormone which can increase our stress and anxiety levels as well as exacerbate conditions like depression.  Caffeine in small does can have an anti-depressant effect but in large amounts can lead to increased depression.

There have been many studies that have linked caffeine consumptions to the increase of many mental disorders such as insomnia, depression, anxiety/panic attacks, increase stress, IBS, fatigue and migraines.  Although we all love the taste of a nice hot coffee, many of us never consider the chemical changes and effects that our tasty beverage has on our body.

One study found that when 4-5 cups of coffee were given to test patients, nearly 50% of them experienced a reaction that was indistinguishable from a sudden panic attack. It is important to know that caffeine can also be found in tea, chocolate and cola.

If you want to tackle your anxiety levels and allow your body to recover from the up and down roller coaster that caffeine can cause your best bet is to begin to reduce your consumption of caffeine.  Before you go cold turkey and give up caffeine completely you need to know that caffeine withdrawals can produce some nasty effects that can be very difficult to deal with such as head aches and flu like symptoms if you go cold turkey. A great way is to taper down your intake if you find that going cold turkey is too much to handle.

If you feel that you are constantly on edge and feel stressed you may want to consider eliminating or greatly reducing your caffeine intake. I know that might not be what you want to hear right now but the effects can be unbelievable and has often lead to be greatly reducing or even eliminating their high levels of anxiety.  While caffeine can allow us to feel a little bit better in the morning or through out the day the price you pay if you suffer from anxiety is a great one.