Food & Drink

How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?

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H ustling in a fast-paced world can get exhausting quickly. Often, coffee provides people with an extra boost of energy to go about their day. How much caffeine is too much? The FDA calls out caffeine as toxic, either in liquid or powder form. The FDA also warns people that one teaspoon of caffeine in powder form is equal to approximately 28 cups of coffee. High levels of coffee intake cause severe health problems to many people. Too much caffeine depends on several factors like medications, body weight, and sensitivity, and thus varies.

FDA also warns adults to be careful about the amount of coffee they consume. Anything over 400mg each day is equivalent to almost 10 cola cans or 8-ounce coffee cups. Teens are told to limit their coffee intake to below 100 mg every day. Keep reading to find out how much caffeine is too much.

Side Effects Of Too Much Caffeine

Consuming too much coffee can over-stimulate the brain. It causes many side effects, such as:

Insomnia

Skip coffee intake in the evening for a better sleep cycle. It is recommended that people stop consuming caffeine 8 hours before they plan to sleep.

Anxiety

Too much caffeine causes excitement in the nervous system, leading to intense anxiety and jittery feelings.

Racing Heart And Palpitations

High caffeine intake also causes your heart to race fast and palpitations.

Dehydration

Drinking too much coffee means you’re skipping out on the water, which leads to dehydration.

The Origins Of Coffee

Coffee is a beverage prepared from the ground and roasted kernels of the tropical coffee vegetation of Africa. Coffee is a popular beverage all over the world. It’s most famous for its energizing and stimulating effect because of an alkaloid present.

Coffee trees are clipped short to protect their vitality and help harvest. They can grow over 9 meters (30 feet) high. Every coffee tree is enclosed with waxy, green leaves emerging opposite each other in duos. Along Branches are where coffee cherries grow. Since it cultivates in a nonstop rotation, it’s not rare to see ripe fruit, flowers, and green fruit on a singular tree.

After almost a whole year, the coffee cherry is ready to mature. A typical coffee tree harvests 2 pounds of green beans or almost 10 pounds of cherry coffee each year.

Sugar In Coffee Vs. Cola

Not everyone loves black coffee. And if you're adding a big glug of cream and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar, you've got to account for that too. Caffeinated sodas can be an option for people who don’t enjoy coffee, but those have obvious problems. A single cola can comprise 39g of sugar, which is over 80% of the daily intake suggested. Having sugar in a small amount is fine, however, a higher intake can be harmful to the human body. It leads to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

What Happens When You Drink Too Much Coffee?

It’s important to acknowledge what happens to your body when you drink too much caffeine. Coffee blocks the molecule adenosine, which helps you sleep. Caffeine works by blocking the molecule adenosine, which makes you feel sleepy. Michael Pollan has a brief description of Adenosine. He says that the brain slowly accumulates adenosine to prepare the body for sleep. Coffee delays the process because of its energizing powers, which keep us alert. However, adenosine levels continue growing once the caffeine is ultimately absorbed, the adenosine overflows the body’s receptors and sleepiness returns.

How Does Coffee Affect Your Sleep Schedule?

Drinking too much caffeine puts your body on borrowed time. When people consume coffee regularly, they may crash during the afternoon, often requiring a second cup to get through the day. This is where it becomes problematic.

Having a good sleep schedule is as crucial as a healthy diet and workout routine. Coffee often interrupts that. Good sleep is just as important to good health as diet and exercise. Caffeine, naturally, can impede that. Coffee has a timeline of 12 hours. So, if you have a cup at noon, caffeine still circulates your brain when you try to sleep. It becomes a continuous loop. If you don’t get enough sleep at night, you require more coffee to “wake up”.

Hence, if you’re having sleep problems, evaluate your caffeine levels. Try to make a habit of consuming a certain amount of coffee (decaf is even better).

Final Thoughts

Some people find it difficult to function without coffee. However, you should know how much caffeine is too much. Being aware of when to stop is healthy. After all, you don’t want to depend on coffee!