Health & longevity

Reported effects of caffeine

The following effects are commonly attributed to over-use of caffeine - while reading them bear in mind that what is true for one person may not be true for someone else:

1. Stimulates your heart, respiratory system, and central nervous system.

2. Makes your blood more sludgy' by raising the level of fatty acids in the blood. 3. Causes messages to be passed along your nervous system more quickly 4. Stimulates blood circulation 5. Raises blood pressure 6. Causes your stomach to produce more acid 7. Irritates the stomach lining 8. Makes digestion less effective by relaxing the muscles of your intestinal system 9. Its diuretic effect caused increased urination - although you would have have to drink about 8 coups of coffee in one sitting for this to occur (1) 10. Stimulates the cortex of your brain heightening the intensity of mental activity. This can result in a temporary feeling of alertness and, in the short term, banishes drowsiness and feelings of fatigue. In those who already have high levels of anxiety the heightened intensity of mental activity can produce unpleasant effects. But check out (2) below which contradicts this. 11. Affects the length and quality of sleep. Heavy caffeine users suffer from sleep-deprivation because their nervous system is too stimulated to allow them deep, restful or prolonged sleep. 12. The American Medical Journal has reported a correlation between caffeine and decreased bone density or osteoporosis in women. In addition to the above effects prolonged or very heavy caffeine use can produce the following: 13.Caffeine nerves’ a jittery feeling with shaking hands, palpitations, and wobbliness in the legs.

3. Caffeine addiction which involves nervousness, irritability, agitation, headaches or ringing in the ears.

4. Causes your adrenal glands to release their hormones into your bloodstream

5. Causes blood sugar, or blood glucose, to be released from storage through the effects of the adrenal hormones. This gives you a temporary lift but…

6. …requires your pancreas to over-work. This is because your pancreas now has to produce extra insulin to reduce this extra blood sugar. Once the extra insulin has ‘mopped up’ the extra blood sugar your temporary lift from the caffeine ends. Your vitality level is back to normal. However in heavy caffeine users the pancreas, in time, becomes over-sensitive and over-zealous. Now it begins producing too much insulin – it ‘mops up’ not just the excess blood sugar but the blood sugar you need to feel alert and energetic. The initial effect of this is a let-down effect and a craving for more caffeine to give you a further boost. A later effect can be excessive and chronic tiredness, even on waking in the morning. Some people find that many of the psychological complaints common to reactive hypoglycaemia (the emotional yo-yo effect, shakiness, palpitations, weakness, tiredness, etc.) disappear within a few days of stopping caffeine.