True that coffee is just amazing. Coffee can rejuvenate you anywhere and at any hour of the day, thanks to its caffeine content and incredible flavor. So, sometimes, you might get carried away and drink a little too much of it. It’s quite understandable. You might even get a caffeine overdose by pairing your cup of espresso or cappuccino with dark chocolate and suffer a serious case of continuous jitters. So, when you drink more coffee than your body can actually handle, you must know what should be done. Read on to know more about coffee, caffeine, and coffee overdose.
What Does Caffeine Do?
Caffeine has this amazing capability to stimulate the central nervous system and make you feel more alert and awake than you actually are. This is a boon to our generation where people are constantly working and running the rat race of life. Without coffee, for some of us, life seems impossible. However, too much caffeine can make you feel anxious, hyper-alert, and jittery. Caffeine, if taken in large doses, can trigger the release of the adrenaline hormone greatly and make your heart rate increase greatly.
How Much Caffeine Is Too Much Caffeine?
The question that might come to everybody’s mind is how much caffeine is too much caffeine for the body. The recommended dose of caffeine per day is about 400 milligrams, and this is equal to around 4 medium-sized cups of coffee. Although different people are differently tolerant to caffeine, drinking more than four cups of coffee a day might make anyone feel a tad bit crappy.
What Should You Do After Taking Too Much Coffee?
If you have suddenly felt jittery, anxious, or hyper-vigilant due to the intake of too much coffee or caffeine, there are a few things you can do to help yourself come back to your normal state.
1. Drink Water
When you hydrate yourself, you help yourself in easing out some symptoms that caffeine overdose might have caused. In fact, drinking a lot of water can help you in efficiently eliminating excess caffeine from the body. So, drink a few glasses of water slowly to feel better.
2. Do Mild Exercises
To let the jitters go, after hydrating yourself, do a few stretches. You may also do a few breathing exercises. Practicing mild exercises will help your body move gently and balance your heart beats as well.
3. Eat Foods Rich In Potassium And Magnesium
After finishing your exercises, rest for a while and have a meal rich in potassium and magnesium. This means that eating bananas and dark leafy greens will help. Caffeine depletes the potassium and magnesium levels in the body, which causes the body to feel tremors, jitters, and highly uncomfortable. Eating foods rich in these two minerals will help replenish their amounts in your body and let the jitters go away.
How Much Time Do Caffeine Levels Take To Drop?
The average half-life period of caffeine in the blood ranges from around 1.5 to 9.5 hours. So, for caffeine levels to drop in the bloodstream, it can take anywhere from 1.5 to 9.5 hours to drop to half the original amount of caffeine present in the body.
When To See The Doctor?
Sometimes, people start feeling difficulty in breathing, suffer from chest pain, vomiting, convulsions, muscle twitching, fast and irregular heartbeats that refuse to slow down, and even feel a lot of confusion going on. These are serious cases of caffeine overdose that need immediate medical attention. Doctors have certain methods to draw the caffeine out by using laxatives or activated charcoal. However, you must never try these methods without a doctor’s help.
So, the best way to lower your risks of caffeine overdose is to watch your caffeine intake in the first place. However, in case you slip up and end up drinking more coffee than you should have, then you know what you must do.
