In the realm of legal addictions, it’s cigarette smoking that – rightly, perhaps – gets the bad rap, but did you know that caffeine might be just as harmful to your brain (even if it doesn’t have the same reputation for being as difficult a habit to kick)?
Anyone who has tried to quit caffeine cold turkey has probably experience the caffeine withdrawal headache. But did you know why caffeine headaches occur? it isn’t pretty. Caffeine works to constrict the blood vessels in the brain. You don’t have to drink very much coffee for this to happen – less than a cup. Caffeine ingestion also depletes the body’s reserves of magnesium, which also works to cause headaches.
But the problem is that all those painkillers you want to reach for – Tylenol, Aspirin, Advil, etc. – many actually contain some form of caffeine, so that while they might dull the headache sensation, they are not actually removing the source of the problem. Once you stop taking the painkillers, the headache will come right back, and in any case, you’re no further with breaking your caffeine addiction than you were when you first tried to.
Headaches hurt so much because what you’re feeling is the size of the blood vessels in the brain increasing again. Remember, caffeine constricts blood vessels, so once you take caffeine away, the vessels want to return to their normal levels, and this hurts because more blood is flowing through them. And you don’t even need to go cold turkey on coffee to experience the pain of a withdrawal headache – even lowering your caffeine intake by a small amount will do it, since your body wants to return to health as soon as possible.
The health industry is so blind to the effects of caffeine, in fact, that it is sometimes used in an intravenous drip during surgery for patients who are habitual coffee drinkers. The reasoning here is because the patient is not able to drink or eat up to and during surgery, so the caffeine drip is used in order to prevent the well-known side effect of the caffeine withdrawal headache that occurs after surgery.
On balance, you really should just find a way to stop drinking coffee, or at least to only have it once a week. There are just too many negative side effects to make it worth drinking every day. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll have to look out for more than just your cup of coffee, since caffeine is found in many forms.
Now that you’re aware of more of the dangers of caffeine, be sure to read up on the caffeine inside your foods and drinks by visiting http://caffeinecontent.typepad.com/ for more ideas on how to kick the caffeine habit.
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Tags: addiction, caffeine, caffeine addiction, caffeine headaches, caffeine withdrawal, coffee, fitness, habits, Headache And Vomiting, headaches, Health, mental health, well-being, withdrawal