Caffeine and Age

This ones been floating around my desk for a little while and I thought it was a good time to publish it. Found somewhere on the net originally it has some good information and also addresses the addictive element of caffeine.

Caffeine and Age

In small amounts (one or two six-ounce cups of coffee), caffeine helps reduce drowsiness and fatigue, improves concentration, and aids digestion. But if you overdo it—particularly if you are over age 60—caffeine may backfire on you, says Bernard Vittone, M.D., psychiatrist and director of the National Center for the Treatment of Phobias, Anxiety, and Depression in Washington, D.C.

As you age, your body—particularly your brain—becomes more sensitive to caffeine, so you’re more susceptible to many of its adverse effects, including tremors, insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, rapid heartbeat, muscle twitching, and abdominal pain, he explains.

The amount of caffeine it takes to trigger these side effects varies from person to person, but many researchers suspect that as little as 300 milligrams (about three six-ounce cups of coffee) may be too much for some people. On the other hand, if you regularly use caffeine, you may develop withdrawal symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and depression if you abruptly stop drinking it, says Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., professor of behavioral biology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. In one small study co-authored by Dr. Griffiths, nine people had such severe caffeine withdrawal that they stopped doing household chores, canceled important social activities like birthday parties, and were more prone to mental lapses. But in most cases, weaning yourself off caffeine isn’t that difficult. Here are some shrewd ways to do it