Drinking Too Much Coffee? How Too Much Caffeine Can Affect You

I have a mother who used to rely on caffeine to wake up and to keep her going throughout the day. Knowing her own situation, she had restricted her children from drinking coffee. Both my sisters and I did not have a sip of coffee until we started our working life. It is not that we need coffee to keep us going during work but we started to drink it because we found the other side of coffee. Coffee has many benefits if we drink it moderately.

If you are like my mother who used to rely daily on caffeine from her coffee, you are not alone. Caffeine acts as a stimulant that stimulates the central nervous system. It makes you feel more awake and alert.

Usually drinking not more than three cups a day does not cause any harm to the body. Over dosage of caffeine may cause sleeplessness, irritability, fast heartbeat, muscle tremors, stomach upset, nervousness, indigestion, increased blood pressure and restlessness. However, there are some people who are more sensitive to caffeine than others. Even a small amount of caffeine will cause the side effects. Therefore, it really depends on how much each individual's body reacts to the caffeine intake to determine how much is too much.

Different coffee contains different amounts of caffeine content. The National Soft Drink Association researched that a 7 ounce cup of coffee if brewed, is about 80 to 135 mg of caffeine. Instant coffee is about 65 to 100 mg of caffeine, decaf brewed is about 3 to 4 mg of caffeine and decaf instant is about 2 to 3 mg of caffeine.

People who do not drink coffee regularly may be more sensitive to the negative effects. Other factors such as health conditions and age do matter. Pregnant women may be especially sensitive to caffeine because they take a longer time to clear the caffeine from the body.

In fact studies found that women who consume large amounts of caffeine are more likely to have miscarriage. However, until more research on the risks of caffeine in pregnancy, it is recommended that pregnant women should limit caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day.

If you think that you are consuming too much caffeine from coffee a day and would like to reduce it, do not cut caffeine out straight away. Try to ease caffeine off over a period of 14 days to reduce the discomfort. Too quick in reducing caffeine intake may cause a dramatic drop in blood pressure, migraine-like headache, muscle cramps, giddiness, excessive sleepiness and loss of concentration.