Is caffeine BAD?

(Warning: This is going to be a long post, so you might need coffee!)

Many people think that this is a debatable topic, but let me address this topic, to the best of my knowledge and expertise as a nutritionist.

When consumed in moderation (2 to 3 cups/day of coffee), depending on body size and degree of tolerance to caffeine, it takes less than an hour for caffeine to begin affecting the body and a mild dose wears off in three to four hours. What effects? Caffeine is an ergogenic - it increases the capacity for mental or physical labor. Caffeine is also a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant, having the effect of temporarily warding off drowsiness and restoring alertness.

Now, before I continue, I would like to inject my personal opinion here, that is: caffeine, when used OCCASIONALLY, and in moderation, is useful and effective in improving your performance, be it work, studies or whatever pleasurable experiences. However, caffeine does not eliminate the need for sleep or rest: it only temporarily reduces the sensation of being tired.

So, I think that, caffeine is very useful and good for short term events like rushing for deadlines or last-minute efforts. However, I am not encouraging that to happen all the time, since you must learn how to manage your time better. But unless you fall under the category of people like me who have endless amount of work, and short-notice deadlines, then, perhaps, it is unavoidable to consume caffeine in dire times of need.

From one angle, caffeine usage can be considered as "cheating" your tired body. What do you do when you are tired? You sleep, or rest, right? So caffeine "cheats" your body in thinking that it doesn't need sleep yet, until the effects of caffeine wears off, in 3-4 hours.

Now, let's talk about OVERUSE and OVERDOSE of caffeine. In large amounts, especially over extended periods of time, caffeine can lead to a condition known as caffeinism. Caffeinism usually combines caffeine dependency with a wide range of unpleasant physical and mental conditions e.g. nervousness, irritability, anxiety, tremulousness, muscle twitching (hyperreflexia), insomnia, headaches, respiratory alkalosis and heart palpitations. Furthermore, because caffeine increases the production of stomach acid, high usage over time can lead to peptic ulcers, erosive esophagitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

There are 4 caffeine-induced psychiatric disorders recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition: caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, caffeine-induced sleep disorder, and caffeine-related disorder not otherwise specified (NOS). Long-term overuse of caffeine can elicit a number of psychiatric disturbances. Two such disorders recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) are caffeine-induced sleep disorder and caffeine-induced anxiety disorder. In the case of caffeine-induced sleep disorder, an individual regularly ingests high doses of caffeine sufficient to induce a significant disturbance in his or her sleep, sufficiently severe to warrant clinical attention. In some individuals, the large amounts of caffeine can induce anxiety severe enough to necessitate clinical attention. This caffeine-induced anxiety disorder can take many forms, from generalized anxiety to panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or even phobic symptoms. A study in the British Journal of Addiction concluded that caffeinism, although infrequently diagnosed, may afflict as many as one person in ten of the population.

Other side effects of caffeine overuse include: dizziness, tachycardia, blurred vision, drowsiness, dry mouth, flushed dry skin, diuresis, loss of appetite, nausea and stomachaches.

All the above, are just side effects of OVERUSE of caffeine. What about OVERDOSE?

An acute overdose of caffeine, usually in excess of 400 milligrams (more than 4 cups of coffee), can result in a state of central nervous system overstimulation called caffeine intoxication. The symptoms of caffeine intoxication include restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushing of the face, increased urination, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, a rambling flow of thought and speech, irritability, irregular or rapid heart beat, and psychomotor agitation.

In cases of extreme overdose, DEATH can result. The median lethal dose (LD50) of caffeine in humans is dependent on weight and individual sensitivity and estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body mass, roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult taken within a limited timeframe that is dependent on half-life. Though achieving lethal dose with caffeine would be exceptionally difficult with regular coffee, there have been reported deaths from overdosing on caffeine pills, with serious symptoms of overdose requiring hospitalization occurring from as little as 2 grams of caffeine. Death typically occurs due to ventricular fibrillation brought about by effects of caffeine on the cardiovascular system. So don't play play. Instead of getting your name in the Guinness Book of World Records, you might instead, find your name in the Malaysian Registrar of Death Records.

So is caffeine good or bad? Now, before I make my conclusion, let's look at another thing that many people do not know about caffeine. It's called caffeine tolerance and withdrawal.

Because caffeine is primarily an antagonist of the central nervous system's receptors for the neurotransmitter adenosine, the bodies of individuals who regularly consume caffeine adapt to the continual presence of the drug by substantially increasing the number of adenosine receptors in the central nervous system. This increase in the number of the adenosine receptors makes the body much more sensitive to adenosine, with two primary consequences:

1. First, the stimulatory effects of caffeine are substantially reduced, a phenomenon known as a tolerance adaptation.

2.Second, because these adaptive responses to caffeine make individuals much more sensitive to adenosine, a reduction in caffeine intake will effectively increase the normal physiological effects of adenosine, resulting in unwelcome withdrawal symptoms in tolerant users.

Caffeine tolerance develops very quickly, especially among heavy coffee drinkers. Complete tolerance to sleep disruption effects of caffeine develops after consuming 400 mg of caffeine 3 times a day for 7 days. Complete tolerance to subjective effects of caffeine was observed to develop after consuming 300 mg 3 times per day for 18 days, and possibly even earlier. If you don't get my English here, then, in much simpler English, it means that daily consumption of coffee will reduce the effects of caffeine, requiring a higher dosage next time, to create the effects of caffeine, like keeping you awake. Instead of keeping you awake, you might sleep like a log! Eventually, that higher dosage will wear off too, requiring an even much higher dosage for caffeine to take effect. Eventually, you will reach the dosage that is under the OVERUSE and OVERDOSE section described above.

Withdrawal symptoms — headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, and stomachaches — may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days, representing the time required for the number of adenosine receptors in the brain to revert to "normal" levels, uninfluenced by caffeine consumption.

So, what is my conclusion? Use caffeine when you really need it, or else, avoid from consuming it daily. And it is ALWAYS better to get ENOUGH sleep, rather than depend on coffee to keep you awake the next day. Remember: You are only cheating yourself, not your own body that you don't need rest or sleep. Eventually, you will break down from extreme fatigue and OVERDOSE or OVERUSE of caffeine. And of course, we all know that even God Almighty, The Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God took a break too. God rested, so why should we not do the same?

Some trivia:
1. Many over-the-counter headache drugs (like Panadol) include caffeine in their formula.
2. Caffeine is toxic to dogs, including chocolate!