Whether you had your delicious caffeine fix at Dunkin’s, Starbucks, Peet’s, or elsewhere too much caffeine might be counter-productive. After getting too much caffeine you might start feeling light-headed, jittery, and anxious, and even experience dizziness, nausea, irregular heart beating, or fainting.
But how to get rid of dizziness after drinking coffee, and what to do after consuming too much caffeine? Read on to find out!
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How To Get Rid Of Dizziness After Drinking Coffee?
Here is what you can do when you’ve had too much caffeine:
- Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, which is why you feel jittery.
- Caffeine sensitivity varies, and everybody metabolizes caffeine differently.
- 400 milligrams of caffeine is the daily limit for healthy adults, according to the FDA.
- Drink plenty of water, take a short walk, and practice deep breathing.
- Visit the emergency room if you are experiencing significant symptoms.
How Much Caffeine is Too Much?
Image credit: Valeriia Miller, Pexels
It depends on individual factors such as your gender, body weight, genetics, health conditions, caffeine sensitivity, and more.
It is important to be aware that the maximum amount of caffeine children can tolerate is far lower than that of adults.
Children weigh less than adults and are more susceptible to the consequences of it.
Standardizing the amount of caffeine in coffee is difficult because the amount of caffeine varies depending on the type of bean, roast-type, brewing method, equipment, the temperature of the water used in the brewing process and the amount of time it is allowed to steep.
However, the amount of caffeine in a regular cup of brewed coffee ranges from 60 to 150 milligrams. Meanwhile, the amount of caffeine in an espresso shot is around 50 to 75 milligrams.
Not just coffee can push you over your threshold for caffeine, but so can soda, energy drinks, or over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Caffeine can be found in a wide variety of foods and beverages.
The Symptoms Of Too Much Caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CMS) stimulant. Because of this, it can help wake you up in the morning. And this is a significant reason for your enjoyment of coffee and other caffeinated beverages.
There are other symptoms of having had an excessive amount of coffee, like uneasy legs. They range from symptoms that are generally moderate, such as perspiration and restlessness, to severe symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea, and anxiety.
Most of these symptoms, as uncomfortable as they may be, won’t jeopardize your life. On the other hand, symptoms related to the cardiovascular system demand vigilant attention.
When you consume caffeine, your heart rate increases and your blood pressure receives a momentary boost. The vast majority of folks don’t have any issues with this at all.
Extreme amounts of caffeine, on the other hand, can bring on rapid and irregular heartbeats in anyone who already has preexisting heart disease, whether or not this condition is known. This can bring on abrupt cardiac arrest.
People who consume a large amount of caffeine may find that their heart beats irregularly, thud abnormally, or races substantially faster than usual. You should go to the emergency hospital if your heart rate is erratic or if it remains very high, if your symptoms feel overpowering, or if you are dizzy or faint.
If your symptoms are not particularly severe and do not include dizziness, but you are still concerned, he recommends that you schedule an appointment with a medical professional so that you can be examined.
Because caffeine can potentially bring on seizure disorders and arrhythmias, those who already have these diseases should consult a physician before increasing their caffeine consumption.
The consumption of caffeine may exacerbate anxiety. The jitters are brought on by the influence that coffee has on a person’s nervous system.
But if you already have a propensity for anxiety, that jitteriness can make you feel much more uncomfortable than you already did. The fact that you are experiencing heart symptoms can make this anxiety worse.
Caffeine Sensitivity
Every person who enjoys coffee is familiar with the sensation of having had an excessive amount of coffee. We’ve all been there, only to look back and find that the negative impacts outnumbered the positive ones by a significant margin.
Because of this, the majority of us won’t ever try to have eight shots of espresso all at once again. However, some individuals experience these symptoms even after consuming only one espresso.
You might be wondering how on earth that is even feasible. The sensitivity to caffeine is the root of the problem.
In addition to experiencing jitters, these individuals may also have a pounding heartbeat, headache, and nausea from consuming just a little coffee.
Caffeine sensitivity can be caused by a wide variety of factors, including the following: age, weight, and gender.
To give you an example, a woman’s body is able to process coffee more quickly than a man’s. Additionally, the likelihood of caffeine-causing sensitivity increases the longer caffeine remains in the system.
The same can be said about one’s age. As we get older, the rate at which our bodies metabolize various substances, including caffeine, slows down.
The amount of caffeine that we are able to tolerate is directly proportional to our weight.
Additional factors contribute to this sensitivity, such as the chemistry of our brains and the metabolic processes of our livers.
Caffeine sensitivity is essentially caused by genes and enzymes that are present in our bodies and might vary from person to person.
Last but not least, it’s possible that certain drugs and supplements could interact with this substance, which would also cause sensitivity. Guarana, birth control, theophylline, and ephedrine are some examples of these.
What You Can Do To Feel Better
If you want to be entirely free of the effects of excess caffeine in your body, it will take some time, much like it takes time to recover from a hangover. This may take anywhere from six hours or longer. If you are sensitive to caffeine, than you might have to wait significantly longer.
Here are a few things that might help you feel better:
- Stop consuming caffeine. Avoid getting any more caffeine than you need today. Be careful that you don’t munch on your customary chocolate-covered snack bar in the middle of the afternoon since you were daydreaming and didn’t pay attention to what you were doing.
- Drink plenty of water. Because caffeine is a diuretic, taking it requires you to consume additional fluids to make up for the amount of water that is lost through urination. You don’t want to make things any worse by becoming dehydrated, do you?
- Take a short walk. If you feel like you have a lot of bottled up energy, going for a walk can help you release some of that energy. But you should stop what you’re doing if you notice anything abnormal happening to your heart rates, such as a sudden and rapid spike.
- Replace electrolytes. Not only are you losing water, but you are also losing electrolytes if you have been experiencing stomach sickness or diarrhea. You are able to do so by using an electrolyte replacement solution such as Pedialyte in their stead.
- Take deep breaths. If you are anxious, your breathing is probably rapid and shallow, and this will only make your worry worse in the long run. It may help bring your breathing back to normal and lower your anxiety if you take calm, deep, purposeful breaths.
- Visit the emergency room. If you are experiencing significant or unusual symptoms, you should visit the emergency room.
Takeaway
There you have it: How to get rid of dizziness after drinking coffee and what you can do to feel better when you’ve had too much caffeine!
Caffeine is best enjoyed with moderation, and how much you can safely enjoy differs for every coffee lover. Therefore it’s important to know your own caffeine limit and stick to it no matter how tempting that next cup of coffee looks.
SEE ALSO:
- Caffeine Hangover and Crashes: Everything You Need to Know!
- Why Doesn’t Caffeine Give Me Energy? Top 6 Reasons!
- Caffeine Hangover and Crashes
Featured Image Credit: Crystal Shaw, Unsplash