Know How Coffee Can Affect Your Anxiety Level

If your cup of coffee, each morning, helps you function like a human being throughout the week; you are not alone. Around 64% of Americans accept that they drink a minimum of one cup of coffee daily. Well, whether you drink just one or more cups of coffee the whole day, you now have one more reason to thank and be grateful that coffee does exist.

Caleb Backe, a wellness and health expert, explains that when it comes to anxiety, many of us think that most of the caffeinated drinks must be avoided, but that is not exactly the case with some people. Backe explains that caffeine helps the body release dopamine or the feel-good chemical. It releases dopamine into an area of the brain, which has a role in mood regulation.

Caffeine helps in getting the dopamine stored in the amygdala, a section of brain involved in mood regulation. People with depression or anxiety have significantly low levels of dopamine. Since caffeine boosts the dopamine secretion, it helps people, suffering from anxiety, feel less anxious and more happy.

How Much Coffee Is Actually Too Much?

While caffeine makes a few people less anxious and happier, it might make others even more anxious and panicky. Dr. Sal Raichbach, a licensed clinical social worker, explains that getting overboard with caffeine might actually worsen your anxiety. He advises that if your cup of coffee makes you feel more anxious, it is time to cut back on caffeine.

Alternately, you can consume green tea as it is a less-caffeinated option. The health benefits of coffee come at a low dosage, so you can start with a lesser quantity and may gradually increase your dosage. Every person responds differently to caffeine, as asserted by Dr. Raichbach.

Although coffee helps you manage anxiety, its prolonged consumption might lead to burnout in people, who are already deficient and depleted. Backe warns that there are various drawbacks associated with excessive caffeine consumption as its overconsumption can lead to insomnia and may raise your stress levels. This, in turn, might cause depression and stress in people with a genetic predisposition to anxiety.

Backe concludes that two cups of coffee each day is the best choice from a health perspective. Anything more than that can definitely make people with anxiety, even more anxious and stressed.