We have written extensively about the health benefits of drinking coffee. But we have to admit that there can be some negative aspects of drinking coffee as well. All of them have to do with drinking large amounts of coffee when you are already experiencing side effects of the stimulant aspects of caffeine. While the benefits of coffee seem to increase as you move up to as many as six cups a day, drinking more than that does not seem to help and is where many of the side effects lie. And some folks are simply more sensitive to the stimulant effects of caffeine. So, can coffee be dangerous? Here are a few examples.
When You Are Already Anxious More Coffee Is Not a Good Idea
A normal cup of coffee, eight ounces, contains ninety-five milligrams of caffeine. About 500 milligrams or five cups a day is commonly where caffeine starts to cause anxiety, stress, or depression according to the Journal of Pharmacology. If you are consuming 1,000 milligrams of caffeine a day or ten cups, they say that this is a reliable predictor of a higher level of anxiety than usual. There are many things in life that can cause you to be anxious but when evaluating why you are nervous think about how much coffee you are drinking.
When You Sleep Is Not Giving You Rest Ask What Role Coffee Has
A cup or two of coffee helps you wake up in the morning and keeps you going in the afternoon. However, six hours after you drink coffee half of the caffeine is still in your body. Twelve hours later a fourth still is hanging around. That means a fourth of your 2 pm coffee is still there at 2 am. If you have a nice espresso after supper at 8 pm half of that is still in your system at 2 am. People vary in terms of how fast their bodies metabolize (process) caffeine but if you find yourself staring at the dial of your alarm clock at 2 am consider limiting your coffee to mornings only and if that is not working, cutting your total consumption in half!
A Fast Heart Rate Can Be from Too Much Coffee
How a person’s heart responds to caffeine in the system varies from person to person. As much as two cups of coffee every five hours or even every hour has little effect on the heart rate for some people. For others a single cup of brewed coffee causes an irregular beat and a fast rhythm. If a person has a heart condition that affects their heart rate or regularity of their heart rhythm it is wise to discuss coffee intake with their treating physician. For the average person drinking a couple of cups of coffee a day this is not an issue.
Too Much Coffee Can Cause the Jitters
Some people get jittery when they drink too much coffee. This is an “overdose” of caffeine. Whether or not this happens to you depends on how much caffeine is in your coffee, how much coffee you drink, if you drink all of your daily coffee in a short time, and your innate sensitivity to caffeine. In addition to the jitters, too much caffeine can cause headaches, a fast heart rate, and trouble sleeping. Cutting back on your coffee intake will help but we suggest tapering off instead of going “cold turkey” as caffeine withdrawal causes headaches and fatigue and can last up to nine days.
Can Coffee Make You Feel Tired?
The caffeine in coffee is a stimulant. We use it to wake up and keep going. However, the body needs rest and when a person continually uses coffee to stay awake and keep going eventually the underlying fatigue overcomes even multiple cups of coffee and the person crashes. If you need to stay up for one night because of an emergency, using coffee as a stimulant is OK. But as a constant habit this will catch up with you and you need to time your coffee consumption so that you get uninterrupted sleep.
Can Coffee Be Dangerous? – SlideShare Version