While people understand why being addicted to tobacco, alcohol, or drugs is so dangerous, they often view caffeine as harmless. It might not be as bad for you as heroin or smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, but don’t be fooled by the fact that you are just drinking coffee, tea, or soft drinks. Drinking high amounts of caffeine with the inability to stop is still a danger to your physical and mental health.
There is the Potential For Addiction
To start with, anything that has the potential to cause an addiction so great that when you stop doing it, you experience serious withdrawal symptoms, is something that isn’t good for you. Being addicted to caffeine and experiencing symptoms like migraines, stomach aches, vomiting, and dizziness just because you haven’t had any caffeine is a major red flag. This should tell you that your body is reacted badly to not having it, which means you should really not be feeding it to your body in the first place.
It Can Worsen Anxiety
If you suffer from generalized anxiety or panic attack disorder, you might not even realize caffeine is triggering your panic attacks. Caffeine can worsen anxiety, whether it makes you feel jittery, or it actually leads to a full-blown panic attack. The more caffeine you consume, the worse it can be for you. Anyone who suffers from anxiety should really think about quitting. You are only making it harder to live a normal life with your anxiety. Try reducing your caffeine intake at first and see if it makes a difference with how you feel.
Caffeine Raises Blood Pressure
Caffeine is also not good for your cardiovascular health on many levels. First of all, it has the potential to raise your blood pressure. This doesn’t occur with everyone, but it does increase your risk. If you are already at risk for heart disease or high blood pressure, and you drink a lot of coffee, now is the time to quit. Your doctor might also recommend you quit caffeine if you already have high blood pressure. It can also increase your risk of having a heart attack at a young age if you are drinking four cups or more of coffee each day.
You May Get Bad Headaches
You might be familiar with the terrible headache or migraine you get on mornings when you don’t get your normal cup of coffee or tea. This is from caffeine withdrawal, which occurs because your body is so used to having that stimulant. You can start getting these headaches more often, whether you have less soda during the day as usual, or you don’t get your morning coffee until a bit too late.
