Our pace of life can sometimes make us feel tired, fatigued or lacking energy. Many people turn to coffee for its energetic effects to cope with their daily lives.
Drinking coffee also has a social component. Surely at some point you have met someone to have coffee and talk or you have had coffee after a meal with friends.
For all these reasons, it is not strange to hear people say “until I drink coffee I am not a person” or “I need a coffee to face the day.” Did you know that coffee can cause addiction? And do you know the negative consequences it has on health? Keep reading this Psychology-Online article in which we tell you What is coffee addiction called, its symptoms, consequences and how to eliminate it.
Why can coffee cause addiction?
Coffee is a seed that contains a high amount of caffeine, substance responsible for causing addiction. Continued consumption of caffeine can cause dependence within a few days and become addictive. What is coffee addiction called? This addiction is called “caffeinomania”.
Caffeine would be present, although in smaller quantities, in decaffeinated coffee. In addition, we can find it in other products such as some soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolate or tea.
Next, we will tell you what symptoms must appear to consider coffee as an addiction, its consequences and how to eliminate it.
Symptoms of coffee addiction
Substance-related disorders that appear in the DSM-5 classification of mental disorders, a classification of the American Psychiatric Association, include ten substances among which caffeine would be found.
This classification does not consider coffee addiction as a disorder, although it does include intoxication caused by caffeine and the withdrawal syndrome when reducing or eliminating its consumption.
The World Health Organization classification (ICD-11) also does not speak of addiction but does identify a disorder called “pattern of continuous caffeine consumption”, whose symptoms would be:
- Daily caffeine consumption or almost daily.
- Physical or mental damage to health caused by consumption.
- Consumption is continuous and evident for at least a month.
- The damage to health would be caused either by the route of administration (which can be harmful) or by the toxic effects of caffeine.
Effects caused by caffeine consumption
Caffeine is a substance whose consumption has effects on our body such as:
- Activation of the central nervous system. It is a psychostimulant substance that causes an increase in the level of alertness and a reduction in the feeling of tiredness.
- It negatively influences sleep cycles and can cause insomnia.
- As an addictive substance, it acts on the brain’s reward system, a system that is fundamental in the development of addictions.
- Prolonged consumption can cause tolerancethat is, the same dose no longer causes the same effect and you need higher doses.
- May cause depressive, anxious and irritable symptoms.
- At the vascular level, it increases blood pressure and heart rate.
- Slightly improves respiratory function.
- Reduces tiredness and fatigue and causes vasodilation at the muscular level.
- May cause gastrointestinal discomfort and even ulcers.
- It supposes a risk factor in infertility of both women and men.
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Consequences of coffee addiction
Consume high doses of caffeine can cause poisoningwhose symptoms would be, according to the World Health Organization (ICD-11):
- Cognitive, perceptual and consciousness alterations.
- Behavioral, affective and coordination alterations.
- Concern
- Anxiety
- Excitement
- Insomnia
- diuresis
- Facial redness
- Gastrointestinal discomfort
- Muscle spasms
- Psychomotor agitation
- Sweat or chills
- Nausea or vomiting.
As in any addiction, Cessation of consumption causes withdrawal syndrome whose symptoms, collected in the ICD-11, can be:
- Headache
- Fatigue or drowsiness
- Anxiety
- Dysphoric mood (experiencing unpleasant emotions)
- Nausea or vomiting
- Concentration difficulties
How to overcome coffee addiction
Below, we offer the main guidelines to stop coffee addiction.
1. Make the decision
First of all, you must make the decision that you want to reduce your coffee consumption. If you are still not very clear, you can read about the harmful effects that its continued consumption has on your health and the benefits of abandoning it.
2. Become aware of the addiction
Secondly, once you have decided to want to reduce and/or eliminate consumption, you must be aware and analyze what your addiction is like and what magnitude it has. For this, it would be interesting complete a self-registration of the amount of coffee you drink. This should include:
- Each coffee you drink per day and what type it is (decaf, cut, etc.)
- How much do you take in each of them.
- In what place or situation you consume it.
- At what time do you take each one.
- Finally, you can make a rating from 0 to 10 of the need and/or degree of pleasure that each of the coffees you drink has for you.
3. Set realistic goals
If the goal you have set for yourself is too expensive, such as completely quitting, you can break it down into smaller goals (for example, starting by cutting down on just one cup of coffee). Throughout the entire process, do not leave aside the registration. Set goals that are realistic and try to meet them.
4. Plan rewards
Of course, you should reward yourself once you achieve them, for example, by doing some activity that you like or cooking some food that you especially like.
5. Reduce consumption
Knowing how your addiction works and being clear about what your goal is, you can start working on your addiction by applying some of these tips to reduce it gradually:
- Start by eliminating those coffees that you have rated as less necessary or less pleasant.
- If you can’t eliminate it, at least reduce the amount of caffeine replacing them with decaffeinated coffees.
- If any of your drinks occur in a social environment, that is, you consume because you go out to have coffee with one or more other people, replace coffee with other caffeine-free drinks such as chamomile or certain teas such as rooibos.
- Continue eliminating or substituting coffees until you reach your goal.
6. Eliminate associated stimuli
In more serious cases, you can intervene on the stimuli associated with coffee. For example, do not have the coffee maker in sight or, in case of complete abandonment, stop buying coffee in the last phases.
7. Prepare alternatives
Another key guideline to overcome coffee addiction is to anticipate the situations that most predispose you to consumption. You already know in which situations you feel most like having a coffee, so you can try to avoid them or prepare for them. For example, think about what you are going to order instead of having coffee.
8. Distraction and relaxation
To combat this withdrawal and overcome coffee addiction, perform pleasant and enjoyable tasks such as diaphragmatic breathing or yoga. At the end of this article you will find a guided relaxation to start practicing.
9. Take relapses into account
Finally, keep in mind that any addiction leads to relapses. Do not blame yourself, analyze what its causes have been and try to prevent them in future occasions.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Coffee addiction: name, symptoms, consequences and how to eliminate itwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Pardo Lozano, R., Álvarez García, Y., Barral Tafalla, D. and Farré Albaladejo, M. (2007)Caffeine: a nutrient, a drug or a drug of abuse. Addictions 19(3) 225-238
- Uddin, S., Sufian, M.A., Hossain, F., Kabir, T., Islam, T., Rahman, M. and Rafe, R. (2017) Neuropsychological Effects of Caffeine: Is Caffeine Addictive? Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy. 7 (2) doi: 10.4172/2161-0487.1000295
- American Psychiatric Association (2014). DSM-5. Reference guide to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5-Breviary. Madrid: Panamericana Medical Editorial.
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es