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Tolerance Code: Understanding Caffeine and Its Effects

Tolerance Code: Understanding Caffeine and Its Effects

Drinking caffeinated drinks like coffee and energy drinks has become an indispensable part of most of our lives. It’s something that completes the day, keeping you awake and alert to accomplish your activities.

But, drinking caffeinated drinks too much can reduce the positive effects that you should get. Believe it or not, having too much of something can be disastrous. Like any substance, the more you consume caffeine, the lesser its effect will be. It’s no longer kicking you that you’re used to before. It’s one of the first signs of caffeine tolerance.

Depending on your caffeine tolerance, consuming caffeine can lead to a caffeine crash and other negative side effects. If you’d like to learn more about your caffeine tolerance and how to keep your consumption in check, read on.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a natural stimulant that enhances your brain functions. It provides enough energy in your body to improve your mental performance. It plays an important role in blocking the adenosine from entering your brain. Adenosine is a substance that triggers tiredness. And to combat that, caffeine blocks it.

According to the FDA, 90 percent of adults in the United States take caffeinated drinks every day. With that, the FDA has proposed a limit of 400mg of caffeine a day to manage the effects and symptoms of caffeine.

It’s important to pay close attention to your consumption as consuming too much caffeine can lead to health problems, such as:

Drinking the same amount of caffeine every day can also affect your caffeine tolerance. Other factors to consider are your age, body mass, as well as health. Proper management of caffeine intake is a must to decrease consumption slowly.

When choosing an energy drink, it’s important to check the labels for their caffeine content. Personally, I prefer those with about 50 to 100mg of caffeine as I find that to be the right amount, giving me the boost without any side effects.

If you want to switch to energy drinks without caffeine, I wrote an article about the best energy drinks without caffeine, which you can check out and use as a guide in managing your caffeine intake.

What is Caffeine Tolerance?

Caffeine tolerance is essentially the relationship between the caffeine that you take, and how your body responds to it.

The more caffeine you consume, the more tolerance you build up. For example, you drink one cup of coffee every morning and you gradually feel that it’s not enough, which makes you increase your intake to two cups.

While building up caffeine tolerance will allow you to consume drinks with higher caffeine content, it will make you feel like you are not getting enough of what you are consuming.

On the other hand, having zero tolerance to caffeine can give the best possible effects such as:

  • Alertness and concentration
  • Improvement of mood
  • Increased motivation

But these effects are only effective at first, and over time – it leads to caffeine tolerance. It gradually occurs when the effect of your regular caffeine consumption decreases. Your body wants more – with excessive and regular consumption, your body will suffer from adverse effects like:

  • Increase in blood pressure and heart rate
  • Slows your exercise performance
  • Caffeine dependence
  • Lack of concentration
  • Sleeplessness
  • Headache
  • Anxiety

It would be great if you regulate your caffeine consumption and consume it only when you need it. That way, it’ll minimize the possibility of you suffering from having too much caffeine tolerance.

Check this video to learn more about how to consume caffeine properly:

How to Caffeinate Properly

Caffeine Content of Energy Drinks

If you are wondering what are the common beverages that have caffeine. Here’s a table indicating some sources of caffeine and its caffeine amount:

DrinksAmount of Caffeine
8oz of Brewed Coffee100 to 200mg
8oz Instant Coffee30mg to 150mg
1oz Espresso30 to 50mg
8 oz Decaffeinated Coffee5 to 10mg
8oz Black Tea40 to 70mg
16 fl. oz AMP Energy Drink 142mg
8.4 fl. oz Red Bull80mg
12 fl. oz. Celsius200mg
16 fl. oz. Monster160mg
16 fl. oz. Rockstar160mg
16 fl. oz. Rip It160mg
Zipfizz100mg
4g REIZE50mg
Beverages and its Caffeine Content

Benefits of Caffeine

Consuming caffeine properly can give you lots of benefits, such as:

Weight Loss

Caffeine can help you prevent weight gain and boost your body’s ability to lose weight. It works in suppressing your appetite and minimizing your desire to eat.

It also stimulates thermogenesis to generate more energy and heat in digesting your food.

If you’re looking for energy drinks that can help you with losing weight, check out this article here.

Increase Alertness

A sensible amount of caffeine can improve your alertness and attention. It can boost your mental processes like speed reasoning, and short-term memory.

Development in Sports Performance

Caffeine improves your physical performance during your workout and endurance exercise. It gives you short-term energy to accomplish your tasks.

Brain Function

Caffeine directly affects the adenosine receptors in your brain. It also improves your thinking skills and helps you manage your daily needs. It also slows down the mental decline brought on by age.

Disadvantages of Caffeine

Excessive consumption of caffeine can lead to the following disadvantages:

Depression

A high dosage of caffeine has been noted to trigger anxiety and depression.

Based on the research conducted in 2016, excessive consumption of caffeine is suggested to lead to lower academic performance, increased weight, and increased susceptibility to anxiety and depression.

Blood Sugar

A report regarding two patients suffering from diabetes shows that caffeine can affect your blood sugar levels, as caffeine affects the insulin level that imbalances your blood sugar.

Insomnia

Drinking caffeinated drinks three or six hours before going to bed can cause insomnia. Know that caffeine affects your adenosine levels, which can disrupt your sleep patterns.

Other Destructive Effects

  • Jitters and shakes
  • Heartbeat increase
  • High blood pressure
  • Dizziness
  • Caffeine dependency
  • Dehydration
  • Irritability

With all that said, you should manage your overall caffeine consumption to minimize health risks. My advice is, to know what your body can handle, and stick to your limits and what is recommended by health professionals.

How Fast Can Caffeine Tolerance Develop?

A study conducted by the National Institute of Health about caffeine tolerance shows that you can develop your tolerance in just four days.

When you gradually increase your daily dose of caffeine, it also increases your adenosine receptors and caffeine metabolism. This can lead to a destructive effect on your body, so better watch out for your consumption.

How Can I Recognize the Symptoms of Caffeine Tolerance?

A man having a headache.
Don’t let your tolerance build too high.

Identifying caffeine tolerance is tricky, but the main sign of having a build-up is feeling a lesser effect every time you consume any caffeine-infused beverage or food. It means you no longer get the full kick and benefits every time you drink caffeinated drinks.

Your body is searching or asking for more drinks. At first, you can get enough energy in one drink, then suddenly want to have two or more drinks in a day. After drinking, you will also feel a sudden headache. It disrupts your activities, work, and overall routine.

How to Manage Caffeine Tolerance?

Consuming caffeinated drinks is addicting. You’ll feel the urge to drink from time to time to get the energy you need. However, that also increases the chances of you building your tolerance for caffeine.

The good news is, there’s a way to reduce the risk of building tolerance without cutting your caffeine consumption.

Know that suddenly cutting your caffeine can lead to caffeine withdrawal, which would make you feel lethargic. To reduce your caffeine tolerance, you should start by slowly minimizing your caffeine consumption. That way, it’s a gentler approach and much wiser than completely cutting it out.

For example, if you’ve been drinking 500mg of caffeine a day, make a plan to reduce it to 300mg, then down to 100 can save you from serious threats. It all takes a careful plan, discipline, and dedication to achieve your goal.

How to Avoid Caffeine Tolerance?

Ultimately, the best way to avoid building caffeine tolerance is to plan ahead.

Take note of your consumption, and make sure you don’t go over your limits. For example, if you treat yourself to caffeinated drinks today, then you should skip caffeinated beverages for at least one or two days to minimize the build-up.

Consuming caffeine only when you need it is the healthiest way to avoid caffeine tolerance. Having one or two drinks a week is fine, though it would also be great if you choose the time you consume energy drinks.

Drinking caffeinated drinks later in the day can lead to sleeplessness, so better watch your clock wisely!

Keeping your body healthy is another way to reduce dependence on caffeine in terms of energy. Make sure you don’t skip meals and manage your body by having a proper and balanced diet.

Fruits and vegetables are also a great source of energy and a perfect match for managing your health.

REIZE (10 out of 10)

REIZE – Perfect partner in minimizing caffeine tolerance

Are you worried about the effects of caffeine tolerance that you might encounter from drinking caffeinated drinks? Then, you probably need to try REIZE.

REIZE is a powdered energy drink that contains 50mg of caffeine, 11 calories, and completely no sugar. It’s a perfect drink that’s sure to match your taste. Besides that, you can also have it whenever and wherever you want it as it comes in a compact sachet.

Another good point of REIZE is that you can combine it with your favorite fruits, or drinks, which makes it versatile.

Aside from the goodness, REIZE is also packed with essential vitamins like taurine, ginseng, and B vitamins. It gives you the exact boost your body needs, without any worries about sugar and tolerance build-up.

REIZE offers convenience because you can have it delivered right in front of your doorstep for only about $1 per serving. It’s a wise choice for your money.

So, try REIZE today, and have the goodness without worrying about your caffeine tolerance.

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