Excessive Coffee Drinking and Behavior

Excessive Coffee Drinking and Behavior Coffee & Behavior Most people who drink coffee (i.e., caffeine) regard it as a mild stimulant when ingested in moderate doses (Smith 2002).

Dews (1984) suggested that when caffeine is consumed in the doses found in foods, its effects are "so slight and subtle that the investigator is usually glad to be able to detect them." However, coffee is a different story as caffeine is readily detectable in coffee and is ingested for nearly the sole purpose of aiding in alertness, which is why people drink it in the mornings or whenever else they need a little pick-me-up.

Lieberman (1992) claimed that "there is no evidence to suggest that moderate doses of caffeine have direct effects on sensory function, but Foxx and Rubinoff (1979) stated that excessive coffee drinking can and do have harmful effects on people when large amounts of caffeine are ingested. Foxx and Rubinoff (1979) claimed that caffeine is known to be addictive and prolonged and excessive use can lead to "caffeinism," a condition that has very serious behavioral and physiological side effects.

In a study by Smith (2002), results showed that the effects on behavior of adult humans may occur when individuals consume moderate amounts of caffeine.

The following effects on behavior were documented: (1) Caffeine increases alertness and reduce tiredness; (2) Caffeine improves performance on vigilance tasks as well as simple tasks that require sustained response; (3) Effects on more complex tasks are difficult to assess and probably concern interactions between the caffeine and other variable which increase alertness (e.g., personality or time of day); (4) Caffeine withdrawal has few effects on performance; (5) Regular caffeine use can be beneficial, aid in better mental functioning; and (6) Most people can control their caffeine consumption (2002).

On the contrary, when excessive caffeine is consumed, more unfavorable effects can occur such as: (1) an increase in anxiety and (2) Increased impulsivity. What Smith's (2002) studied showed is that the there is "a big difference between the effects of amounts of caffeine that are normally consumed and those observed when excessive amounts are ingested, or when very sensitive individuals are studied" (2002). Caffeine, according to Smith (2002), can have a major effect on mood.

Caffeine has been shown to increase alertness in low arousal situations, but high doses of caffeine can lead to increased anxiety in certain people. Unlike other areas of study (e.g., studies on the effects of caffeine on health), most studies of the behavioral effects of caffeine have studied acute changes that come after a single dose of caffeine (2002). Smith (2002) states that there is less known about the effects of normal caffeine consumption.

In addition to looking at the effects of regular consumption, there is research to suggest that there are changes in behavior during caffeine withdrawal. Foxx and Rubinoff (1979) talked about the negative effects of "caffeinism," and it turns out that "caffeinism" can be related to behavioral changes in people. Smith (2002) notes that some psychiatric patients have associated their problems to caffeine consumption, which has led to the diagnosis "caffeinism" (2002).

Smith (2002) states that it is important to consider whether caffeine leads to mood problems only when the person already has a history of high anxiety. "It has been claimed that some people abstain from caffeinated drinks because of the accompanying jitteriness and nervousness" (2002). Some researchers have gone so far as to posit that caffeine acts as a "fairly convincing model of generalized anxiety" (2002). "Caffeinism" refers to "a constellation of symptoms associated with very high caffeine intake that are virtually indistinguishable from severe chronic anxiety" (Greden 1974).

There have been several studies that have confirmed the effects of caffeine and the personality dimension of impulsivity (Smith 2002). Performance, according to Smith (2002), is "an interactive function of task difficulty, caffeine and impulsivity" (2002). Performance on an easy letter cancellation task was improved as caffeine dose increased, but on a difficult task impulsive subjects (less aroused) improved while non-impulsive subjects (more aroused) improved then deteriorated. Other results do not fit this pattern and could reflect other individual differences such as expectancies or caffeine usage (Smith 2002).

Another study conducted by Sawyer, Julia and Turin (1982) showed that caffeine does indeed play a role in behavior, which includes changes in "arousal, anxiety, and performance" (1982). Once again, Sawyer et al. (1982) found that personality plays a big role in caffeine's effects on humans as does sensitivity, adaption to caffeine, and the way that caffeine may interact with both nicotine and alcohol (1982).

Griffiths, Bigelow, and Liebson (1986) conducted a study where nine volunteers with a history of heavy coffee drinking were given coffee in which the caffeine in the coffee had been manipulated under "double-blind conditions by using caffeinated (C) or decaffeinated (D) coffee" (1986). When the subjects were switched alternately for 10 or more consecutive days between C. And D, the daily number of cups consumed tended to be relatively stable (1986). In a different study, the preference for C. versus D. was examined. After researcher-scheduled exposures, volunteers were given the choice between C.

And D. When volunteers were presumably caffeine tolerant/dependent, C was rated as being better than D. And was reliably preferred to D. When volunteers were not caffeine tolerant/dependent, C was not reliably preferred to D, nor were there any pronounced differences in ratings in liking (1986). Under these conditions, some volunteers preferred D. To C, stating adverse symptoms (which suggests caffeine toxicity) as reasons for avoiding C. The effects of caffeine withdrawal were then studied for 10 or more days.

This resulted in an orderly withdrawal syndrome, having an onset latency of 19.