Recent Studies Surrounding the Effects of Caffeine

So many people out there are highly dependent upon their daily coffee and caffeine fix to begin their day. However, a recent study has shown that regularly drinking caffeine may not provide the alertness that you think, and the stimulant may be an illusion. This new research suggests that there is no benefit in stamina from drinking coffee every day.

379 individuals were tested by refraining from drinking caffeine for over 16 hours, where they were then given a placebo or caffeine so that their responses could be measured. Between the subjects, there was very little variance in their levels of alertness, revealing that caffeine in itself could have a placebo effect on regular coffee drinkers. The Neuropsychopharmacology Journal recently published this study to show that those that regularly drink coffee may have a tolerance to caffeine's effects. Those that regularly drink caffeine may feel a buzz, but this could simply be because the caffeine intake reduced the fatigue caused by a withdrawal overnight. Regular caffeine drinking also causes an increased anxiety and raised blood pressure if too much is consumed.

One of the main authors of the study, Peter Rogers of the University of Bristol's Department of Experimental Psychology, believes that there is no advantage to consuming caffeine, although many people feel that it helps them to maintain stamina and focus. He suggests that caffeine brings the regular coffee drinker back to a normal place after he or she has had caffeine withdrawal, and if you were to drink an excess amount of caffeine, it could cause anxiety as a side effect.

Half of the participants within the study were low or non-caffeine consumers, and the other half drank a medium to high amount of caffeine daily. All of the study participants were asked to rate their levels of anxiety, headache, and alertness before and after drinking the placebo or caffeine, and they were also required to complete several computer tasks to judge their attentiveness, vigilance, and memory. The study revealed that those that drink a medium to high amount of caffeine and those that had a placebo had more headaches and less alertness. The study revealed that there was no more alertness after drinking caffeine in the low caffeine consumer group and in those who had taken a placebo. This reveals that caffeine potentially only brings regular coffee drinkers back to their normal state after a nightly caffeine withdrawal. The study also revealed that those with a genetic predisposition toward anxiety had a tendency to drink larger amounts of coffee, which showed that a slight increase in anxiety could be part of the caffeine stimulant and buzz effect.

With the results of this study, you can take into consideration that health experts also recommend to drink 2 to 3 cups of coffee on a daily basis. This will allow you to have the health benefits of coffee regularly with a moderate amount of caffeine without any negative side effects!


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Mark Ramos is a coffee geek. For a great selection of Pasquini Livia 90, check out The Coffee Bump.