COFFEE ADDICTION: name, symptoms, consequences and how to eliminate it

Our pace of life can make us feel tired, fatigued, or lacking energy at times. Many people turn to coffee for its energetic effects to cope with their day to day.

Drinking coffee also has a social component. Surely at some point you have met someone to have coffee and talk or have had coffee after a meal with friends.

For all these reasons, it is not strange to hear people say “until I drink my 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.

Index

1. Why can coffee cause addiction?
2. Symptoms of coffee addiction
3. Effects caused by consuming caffeine
4. Consequences of coffee addiction
5. How to overcome a coffee addiction

Coffee is a seed that contains a high amount of

Caffeine would be present, although in less quantity, in decaffeinated coffee. In addition, we can find it in other products such as some soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolate or tea.

Next, we tell you what symptoms must appear to consider coffee as an addiction, its consequences and how to eliminate it.

Substance-related disorders that appear in the DSM-5 classification of mental disorders, classification of the American Psychiatric Association, includes ten substances among which would be the caffeine.

This classification does not consider coffee addiction as a disorder, although it does consider intoxication caused by caffeine and withdrawal syndrome by reducing or eliminating its consumption.

The classification of the World Health Organization (ICD-11) does not speak of addiction either, but it does identify a disorder called "pattern of continuous caffeine consumption", whose symptoms would be:

• Daily caffeine intake 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.

Caffeine is a substance whose consumption has effects on our body such as:

• Central nervous system activation. It is a psychostimulant substance that causes an increase in the level of alertness and a reduction in the feeling of fatigue.
• 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.
• Its prolonged consumption can cause tolerance, that 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.
• Decreases tiredness and fatigue and causes vasodilation at the muscular level.
• May cause gastrointestinal upset and even ulcers.
• It assumes a risk factor in infertility both women and men.

In this article we talk about what is an addiction and of the types of addictions there are.

Consume high doses of caffeine can lead to poisoning, whose symptoms would be, according to the World Health Organization (ICD-11):

• Cognitive, perceptual and consciousness alterations.
• Behavioral, affective and coordination alterations.
• Restlessness
• Anxiety
• Excitement
• Insomnia
• Diursesis
• Facial flushing
• Gastrointestinal discomfort
• Muscle spasms
• Psychomotor agitation
• Sweat or chills
• Nausea or vomiting

As in any addiction, the cessation of its 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

Here are the main guidelines for quitting coffee addiction.

1. Make the decision

First, you must make the decision to want to reduce your coffee consumption. If you are still not very clear about it, you can read about the detrimental effects that its continued consumption has on health and the benefits of its abandonment.

2. Become aware of addiction

Second, once you have decided to want to reduce and / or eliminate consumption, you should be aware and analyze what your addiction is like and how big it is. For this, it would be interesting go completing a self-registration of the amount of coffee you drink. This should include:

• Each coffee you drink a day and what kind it is (if it is decaf, cut, etc.)
• How much do you take in each of them.
• In what place or situation do you consume it.
• What time do you take each one.
• Finally, you can make an assessment from 0 to 10 of the need and / or the degree of pleasure that each of the coffees you drink has for you.

3. Set realistic goals

If your goal is too costly, such as completely cutting out, you can break it down into smaller goals (for example, start by cutting down on a single coffee intake). During the entire process, do not neglect the registration. Set goals that are realistic and try to meet them.

4. Plan rewards

Of course, you should reward yourself once you have achieved it, for example, doing an activity that you like or cooking a meal that you especially like.

5. Reduce the consumption

Knowing how your addiction works and being clear about your goal, you can start working on your addiction by applying one of these tips to gradually reduce it:

• Start by eliminating those coffees that you have valued as less necessary or less pleasant.
• If you can't eliminate it, at least reduce the amount of caffeine substituting decaffeinated coffees.
• If any of your shots take place in a social environment, that is, you consume because you go out for coffee with another or other people substitute other caffeine-free beverages for coffee such as chamomile or certain teas such as rooibos.
• Keep removing 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, don't have the coffee maker in sight Or, in the case of total abandonment, stop buying coffee in the later stages.

7. Prepare alternatives

Another key guideline to overcome addiction to coffee is to anticipate the situations that most predispose you to consumption. You already know in which situations you most want to have a coffee, so you can try to avoid or prepare 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 the addiction to coffee, perform pleasant and enjoyable tasks and use relaxation techniques like diaphragmatic breathing or yoga. At the end of this article you will find a guided relaxation to start practicing.

9. Be aware of relapses

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, in 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 it, we recommend that you enter our category of Addictions.

• Pardo Lozano, R., Álvarez García, Y., Barral Tafalla, D. and Farré Albaladejo, M. (2007) Caffeine: a nutrient, drug, or 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: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
• World Health Organization (WHO) (2018) International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision. Recovered from https://icd.who.int/es