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Obviously, heavy caffeine use can cause unpleasant side effects. You might be too caffeinated if you’re drinking a lot of caffeine and are experiencing side effects such as: Those with anxiety disorders, for example, tend to feel the effects of caffeine acutely. But other factors may include age, weight, genetics, medication use and health conditions. How you personally react to caffeine is partially determined by how much caffeine you’re used to drinking. Or it could even leave you feeling nervous, restless and cause problems with sleeping. If you tend to be susceptible to the effects of caffeine, just one cup of coffee or tea could be enough to get you going. How Does Too Caffeinated Feel?ĭifferent people have different sensitivity to caffeine. And adolescents should limit caffeine to 100 milligrams per day. The actual caffeine content in a beverage or energy shot can vary widely.Īlthough 400 mg of caffeine may be safe for adults, it’s not a good idea for younger children. You should also keep in mind that these are averages. And as far as cola, you can drink 10 cans – though that’s unhealthy for all sorts of other reasons we won’t go into in this post. If you prefer to get caffeinated through energy shots, you’ll want to keep it at two. More than that could have negative effects. Depending on how strong you brew your coffee, that’s roughly equivalent to four cups per day. The magic number for most healthy adults is 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. It’s important to know what’s considered too much. And when you’re not caffeinated, you’ll start to feel like a monster dragging around, looking for your next fix.īut don’t panic. Over time you’re going to need a lot more caffeine to stay awake. And with those additional receptors, more adenosine is going to make its way into your brain. But it all depends on how much you’re drinking.īecause if you’re drinking too much caffeine on a daily basis, your brain might be developing more adenosine receptors.
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In doing so, it blocks the adenosine from binding with the receptors that would normally make you tired. So when you drink coffee, the caffeine binds to your brain’s adenosine receptors. Structurally speaking, caffeine is a chemical that’s similar to adenosine. It’s not so great when you have to be in that 7:30 AM meeting and you didn’t get enough sleep. This is great when it’s 2 AM, or when your body needs rest. And when they bind to their receptors, you feel sleepy.
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Our brains possess a chemical called adenosine. So even though it feels good, is it really to your benefit to be using it to get through your life? This is where it gets tricky. Because once it wears off, the dopamine is reabsorbed and you have a hankering for that second (or eighth) cup of coffee. That means you get the benefits of dopamine for a longer amount of time.Īnd this is part of what makes it so addictive. And with more adrenaline comes increased heart rate, opened up airways and pumped up circulation.Ĭaffeine also prevents the feel-good chemical dopamine from being reabsorbed into your system. The bottom line for many of us is this: Being Caffeinated Feels Good!įor starters, it builds up the adrenaline supply. You might even believe you can’t get your engine started without it.Īnd while you can’t use it to wipe out an entire week’s worth of very late nights, it’s definitely helpful in making you feel less bogged down by sleepy feelings in the morning. But alas, not all of us can be so lucky.įor some of us, it feels like our lifeblood – our fuel. It would be great to have a job that inspires you everyday so you don’t need all that caffeine. Is being caffeinated the only way you feel like you can get through your day?
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