Anxiety and Caffeine
A pounding heart, sweaty palms and a quickened pulse can be attributed to many things, two of which include panic attacks and too much caffeine.
Watch the video above to learn more about how caffeine can affect symptoms of anxiety, or read the written summary below.
Caffeine as a Drug
Caffeine is known as the world's most popular mood altering drug, because it's cheap and accessible. High levels of caffeine can be found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks, and caffeine shots.
Panic Attacks and Anxiety Disorders
Caffeine has been proven to exasperate panic attacks and anxiety disorders. Caffeine increases stress hormones and can more than double levels of epinephrine and cortisol in your blood. Caffeine also inhibits a calming neurotransmitter in your brain, which of course will then trigger panic attacks and anxiety.
Insomnia
Caffeine causes insomnia, or lack of sleep, which isn't good for any aspect of your mental health. There are actually four currently discovered caffeine-related mental health disorders: caffeine addiction, caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety, and caffeine-induced insomnia.
Quitting Caffeine
Even quitting caffeine causes withdrawal symptoms. These include nausea, brain fog, irritability, and anxiety. The good news with this is that these symptoms and side effects will only last a few days.
If you do think that caffeine is a trigger, or worsening your anxiety disorder or your panic attacks, it's best to stop, or at least cut down.
