What are the dangers of excessive caffeine use? Is caffeine addictive?

In the case of long-term intake, large doses of caffeine is a drug that can cause "caffeine poisoning". Caffeine poisoning includes addiction and a range of physical and psychological side effects, such as nervousness, irritability, anxiety, tremors, muscle convulsions (hyperreflexia), insomnia and palpitations (most people take caffeine because of its irritating effects. Many students take caffeine pills when preparing for exams and those on night shifts. Under the strict definition of addiction, only a gradual increase in dosage is addictive, and caffeine dependence is more appropriate, but under a widely accepted definition, all chronic behaviors that are difficult to get rid of are called addictions. so it can also be described as caffeine addiction.) In addition, because caffeine can increase stomach acid, sustained high doses can lead to peptic ulcers, erosive esophagitis and gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, coffee because both normal coffee and decaffeinated coffee will stimulate the gastric mucosa and increase gastric acid secretion, so caffeine may not be the only ingredient in coffee. Four caffeine-induced disorders verified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth Edition) include caffeine overexertion, caffeine anxiety, caffeine sleep disorders and other caffeine-related disorders. Caffeine overexcitement A sharp overdose of caffeine, usually more than 250 milligrams (equivalent to 2-3 cups of brewed coffee) can lead to central nervous system overexcitement. Symptoms of caffeine overexcitement include irritability, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, blushing, increased urine, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle convulsions, distraction, irregular or rapid heartbeat, and restlessness.

Consuming extremely large doses of caffeine can lead to death. For experimental mice, the half lethal dose of caffeine was 192 mg per kilogram of body weight. The half-lethal dose of caffeine depends on weight and personal sensitivity, about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, about 140 to 180 cups of coffee consumed by the average adult in a limited period of time, depending on the biological half-life. Although it is almost impossible to die from drinking regular coffee, there are reports of deaths due to excessive use of caffeine pills.

The treatment of caffeine overexertion is usually auxiliary, that is, individual symptoms are treated accordingly. However, if the patient's serum caffeine concentration is too high, it is possible to take peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis and hemofiltration and other methods.

Long-term excessive caffeine intake can cause a series of mental disorders. Two of those identified by the American Psychiatric Association are caffeine anxiety disorder and caffeine sleep disorder.

Caffeine sleep disorder refers to a sleep disorder caused by an individual's regular intake of high doses of caffeine, which can be detected by clinical diagnosis.

For some individuals, the anxiety caused by large doses of coffee is enough to be detected by clinical diagnosis. Caffeine anxiety disorders can take different forms, including general anxiety disorders, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder and even phobia. Because these symptoms are easily confused with basic neurological disorders, such as panic disorder, general anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder or even schizophrenia, some medical workers believe that some people who eat too much caffeine are misdiagnosed and given unnecessary treatment. they believe that caffeine-induced mental illness can be easily controlled by cutting off the source of caffeine. Although rarely diagnosed, chronic caffeine poisoning affects at least 1/10 of the population, according to a survey by the British Journal of Addiction (British Journal of Addiction).

Coffee is currently the longest-used but most misunderstood beverage. Many new research reports show that in many ways, caffeine is not harmful to human health as thought in the past; on the contrary, some ingredients in coffee have many health effects on the human body, which scientists have gradually discovered.