Caffeine is an Addictive Drug

Caffeine addicts can be described as dose independence due to the drinking of coffee every day. Children are significantly more vulnerable to caffeine consumption than adults. At least 87% of young teens and adults drink around 100mg of caffeine, which is the size of an 8-ounce cup of coffee routinely, with adult consumers drinking around twice as much of the dosage which is close to a 12-ounce cup. However, there is a strong connection between caffeine and young teens, especially at the peak of high school, and first-year students in collage. It makes sense at a younger age where we drink caffeine products either waking up early in the morning to get to our class or in the afternoon to finish our homework assignment that is due because of procrastination. Researchers in “Caffeine—An Invisible Addiction” observed two hundred students of Kinnard collage where 65% of them are the age of 20 to 24. Among the two hundred students, at least half of them drink at least once or twice a day while a quarter of them drink more than twice a day, at least 9.5% drink weekly, and 14.5% rarely drink caffeine products.

Surprisingly, only 40% of the population stated that they cannot live without tea or coffee where caffeine gives the feel of an adrenaline rush into our body which gives us that edge to get through our day. Experts in the research of caffeine in “Neuropsychological…Addictive?” firmly states that caffeine can act like a stimulant to our central nervous system where it can evoke to be a mild type of drug. Liver is the prime suspect for caffeine metabolism that is quickly absorbing 99% of caffeine within 45 minutes of ingestion into our immune system which allows the body to develop dependency. The effects of caffeine will trigger between 45 to 120 minutes inside our stomach after oral ingestion.

 Structurally, caffeine and adenosine are remarkably close to each other in molecules where caffeine functions in an equivalent manner to our brains.

Adenosine is a type of neurotransmitter drug, where it promotes sleep in our brain receptors that are being countered by the stimulant effects from caffeine. The causes of adenosine receptors in our brain cells to be blocked are by the normal intake of caffeine where an increase in caffeine can prevent a person from falling asleep. A higher dosage in caffeine products will overthrow the effects of adenosine where the effects can be severe psychologically. Caffeine can change our pathos that produce a disorder such as headaches, lack of care, and anxiety which can sum up the prompt to being aggressive and mood swings. Surprisingly at a moderate dose of caffeine, it can function as an anti-depressant where caffeine can lessen the symptoms of depression and suicide chance. As the caffeine that is stored in our body decreases, the side effects of withdraw symptoms emerge of drowsiness, energy crashes, and tiredness, and the level of dopamine slightly increases when taking caffeine products which can lead to euphoria experience. However, an excessive amount of caffeine can bring about headaches, but suddenly stop consuming caffeine can increase the likelihood of getting a headache.

The same experts in “Neuropsychological…Addictive?” took a randomly selected sample of the population with a survey, resulted in an increase by 40% to 70% of the population who tried to quit taking caffeine are experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Withdraws can happen when a person stops drinking caffeine in a time of 12 to 24 hours. Not everyone gets the same experience or the symptoms of caffeine since withdrawals usually occur when one stops consuming caffeine products once a day. However, many people are unaware of caffeine capabilities of being hidden due to the preferences and flavors of products where the sweetness of flavored products overwrites the bitterness which is the key characteristics of caffeine. The feeling of dopamine when we purchase certain brands of coffee such as Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts can bring satisfaction to our needs which can lead to compulsively buying more coffee drinks. Caffeine addiction is dependent on compulsive buying whereas compulsive buying is dependent on branding addiction which is like a chain reaction. The analysis from the two researchers Mona Mrad, and Charles Chi Cui discovered the demonstration of compulsive buyers has an impact of brand addiction where the short-term effects of gratification from compulsive buyers seeks long-term gratification from brand addiction. We feel great when we purchase coffee from a certain brand coffee shop, however, that feeling will gradually fade away like how the effects of caffeine lasted. Compulsive buying touches our pathos where we feel relief and pleasure but gradually followed up by remorse and guilt. It can bring positive factors of buying such as mood repairs which can help with the mood swings of caffeine, but that effect only lasted temporarily. On the other hand, brand addiction touches our pathos in a way that boosts our self-esteem, and our ego.

The fact that many people reported that they either have not, or never experienced withdrawals indicates that they unknowingly consumed tiny amounts of caffeine on days that they thought they were caffeine free. In North America, at least 80 to 90% of adults and children habitually consume caffeine drinks where soft drinks such as Pepsi and Coke have dramatically increased in consumption over the last few decades.

Reference

Sidra Ajmal  Laiba Ajmal. “Caffeine – an Invisible Addiction.” Caffeine – An Invisible Addiction | Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Food Science and Technology, 11 June 2023, journals.usamvcluj.ro/index.php/fst/article/view/14592.

Mona Mrad, and Charles Chi Cui. “Comorbidity of Compulsive Buying and Brand Addiction: An Examination of Two Types of Addictive Consumption.” Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, 29 Oct. 2019, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829631930548X?via%3Dihub#section-cited-by.

Uddin MS, Sufian MA, Hossain MF, Kabir MT, Islam MT, et al. (2017) Neuropsychological Effects of Caffeine: Is Caffeine Addictive? J Psychol Psychother 7: 295. doi: 10.4172/2161-0487.1000295