Do You Suffer From “Caffeine Use Disorder”?

Starting your day with a cup of your favourite coffee blend is almost a ritual for some of us.

It wakes you up, gets you ready for the day and asks for nothing in return. Or does it?

According to a new study review published in the Journal of Caffeine Research, “caffeine use disorder” is quite common.

To come to this conclusion, researchers looked at nine previously published studies on caffeine dependence to assess the seriousness of the situation.

So what is caffeine disorder and how to know if you have it?

–       You experience general withdrawal symptoms, like agitation and anxiety, when you don’t have caffeine

–       You are unable to reduce your caffeine consumption, even though it may come with health risks (f.e. heart disease)

“Well, that’s not me, I only have 2 cups a day” – I heard myself say out loud.

I guess, just like me, you might think that 2 cups a day is nothing. Consider this, though: caffeine can be found in unexpected places, like tea, soda, medicine, chocolate and so on. So even if you are not actually drinking too much coffee, your intake of caffeine can still be quite high.

Study co-author, Laura Juliano, recommends consuming no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day. Unfortunately, since food and drink manufacturers are not required to state the caffeine content of their products, it may be hard to track how much you are actually consuming.

How to combat this? The best course of action is to try to gradually reduce consumption of caffeine sources that you CAN measure, says Juliano.