Caffeine: Energy or Addiction
How many times have I tried to give up caffeine? Too many to count I’m afraid. You know the drill, well at least maybe you do.
I get this notion in my head that I don’t need caffeine and that I can save a lot of money if I quit consuming lattes and energy drinks. So I quit could turkey, endure the three day headache, fight the extreme fatigue, and then finally I’m free! OK, well until a few days later a friend asks me out for a coffee and I digress and rationalize.
I think “If I only have one a week then I can keep myself from depending on it”. However, I start drinking that hot soothing beverage and something strange comes over me, some type of euphoria really. The aroma, the taste, my sinuses clear, my head feels lighter, and I’m ready to conquer the world….yeah!
Once a week turns into twice a week, then every other day, then wouldn’t you know it, I’m hooked again.
I know I’m not alone and there has been much research as to whether caffeine really gives the feeling of energy or if it just satisfies physical and psychological withdraw symptoms. Studies have shown that just consuming 100 milligrams of caffeine a day is enough to cause dependence.
So when we have our daily dose, we aren’t actually increasing our alertness or energy, but instead just easing withdrawal symptoms which gives us the illusion of such positive feelings.
The good news is we are all hopeless addicts and there never has been a larger support group worldwide consisting of well over a billion members strong. In fact over 90% of adults in the US consume caffeine daily.
My struggle continues, but there are way worse things to be addicted to, so drink up energy fiends!
12 Comments
ha I know exactly what you mean. Im a junior in college majoring in CGIM so I was drinking around 2 energy drinks + however many shots of espresso I felt like making in a day. At one point I realized how much money I was spending and stopped cold turkey. I got the headache for awhile but was fine after that for about a month. Then I got back home and my friend brings me an energy drink. I debated about it but I couldn’t pass up a free energy drink so gave in. After that I was back to drinking at least 1-2 energy drinks everyday. At least I managed to cut it back.
I can totally relate. When I finished up my bachelor’s degree (which I owe almost entirely to Bawls, I decided to drop caffeine entirely. I quit cold turkey and never experienced any of the headaches most people complain about when dropping caffeine. But 6 months later (which should have put me outside the detox phase) I realized I had gained a ton of weight and was sick all the time. I jumped right back into my caffeinated ways and have felt fine ever since.
For a while, I was heavily addicted to caffeine and other legal stimulants. My daily cocktail was the following: 1 bottle of Redline, 3 caps of Ergopharm’s AMP (powerful and euphoric weight loss supplement), and anywhere from 300-700mg of caffeine.
A month later, my left eye began to twitch without my control. That scared me. I quit all caffeine/stimulants and a few weeks later the eye twitch disappeared.
I have quit all forms of energy products. The only thing I drink is 2-4 cups of green or white tea. Overall I have noticed that caffeine would affect my mood when I was coming off those high doses.
I drink energy drinks (SoBe No Fear, NoS, Jolt Blue) sporadically enough that I’m pretty confident I don’t have a dependancy. I reserve them for those tough days where I only got like a couple hours of sleep. They actually do the trick.
sweet. Good to know i’m not the only one who drinks energy drinks every day. I’ve had at least one energy drink almost every day for the past 5 years so you could prolly say i’m hooked. people try and tell me it’s in my head and if i really wanted to quit it wouldn’t take long. They don’t get what i mean when i say my head feels lighter and clearer so it’s nice to know i’m not imagining that.
i will die if I dont have A MONSTER RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caffeine without the extras (Taurine etc…) gives me the jitters so I’ve replaced my daily coffee with an energy drink. I try to match the caffeine amounts so that I still benefit from it. Not having coffee daily has greatly improved my smile as well. My energy drinks are not usually dark cola colored beverages so they’re not so staining. I just gotta watch out that my teeth don’t pick up a neon green tint 
Yup… this is my curse…
and my pleasure…
Yeah, i usually have one spike shooter a day, sometimes two but usually spaced really far apart but today i havn’t had any caffiene. I currently have a throbbing headache and i’ve been too tired to do anything but sit there and watch tv all day.
Caffeine has no addictive qualities. It’s our chemical imbalances that cause us to rely on such chemical. So it’s more medically necessary than an irresponsible habit. Just thank God that we have readily available sources to access.
I am totally an addict and drink 3 to 5 energy drinks a day varying from the cheap ones at big lots to monster to spike and I take 80mg of caffeine green tea pills off an on through the day. A few days ago, I just had one energy drink in the morning around 10 am and then tried to not consume any more caffeine that day. I already started getting a headache that night, and when I woke up I had a huge migraine. After getting up, I was really dizzy and the light hurt my head so much. 10 minutes later I’m throwing up! I tried to deal with this by pacing back an forth (helped the dizzyness) but threw up again…so I ran to the store and got a rockstar zero carb (220mg caffeine) cuz i only do sugar free stuff. I drank about 20% of it sipping to not throw it up in about 20 minutes time and my head already started to ease a slight bit. By the time I finished the drink, my headache…MIGRAINE! had cleared up and then my stomach returned to normal….pretty crazzzzzy stuff! but taking so much caffiene I feel bugged out of my head all day long like a zombie, or like i’m drugs…totally a curse that costs me about $5 a day at least ($1000-2000 a year for this lifestyle? ouch)
I am not addicted. Where’s my Jolt? I thought I bought a Jolt. No I am not an addict.