If you use caffeine regularly, you may be aware of your psychological dependence on it, but you may be surprised to find you have developed a physical addiction as well. If you suddenly stop using caffeine, that dependence will soon become apparent from the severe headaches and other symptoms of withdrawal you experience. Headache is the most common physical reaction to sudden caffeine abstinence and there is a documented physical reason for it.
Caffeine Use
Caffeine occurs naturally in popular foods and beverages such as coffee, tea, chocolate and cola, but it is also an added ingredient in many other soft drinks and a number of pain relievers. It is very easy for you to consume a significant dose of caffeine without being aware of it. The average per capita intake of caffeine for adults in the United States is 280 mg, the equivalent of three cups of coffee or seven 12 ounce soft drinks, notes the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. This is about three times more than the amount needed for physical dependence.
Effects of Use
When you have that first cup of coffee in the morning, it tends to increase your level of alertness and produce a feeling of well-being. The physical effects of caffeine include increased blood flow in much of the body, but caffeine constricts the blood vessels in the brain. One of the therapeutic uses of caffeine is in migraine and other headache remedies to constrict cerebral blood vessels. It also accelerates your heart rate and increases your metabolism and urine production.
Tolerance
People who routinely use caffeine develop a tolerance to it that diminishes its effects. Heavy users may achieve "complete tolerance" where their daily dose simply returns them to a normal or baseline state that is no different from that of someone who doesn't use caffeine. These users may however suffer a number of significant physical reactions to suddenly terminating its use.
Withdrawal
If you suddenly stop using caffeine, your body reacts with symptoms that are the opposite of those you experienced when you first began using it. You may suffer physical distress that includes headache, fatigue, drowsiness, irritability and depression. The onset of these symptoms usually occurs within 24 hours and may last for as long as a week. The reactions are severe enough that both the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association recognize caffeine withdrawal as a clinical diagnosis.
Headache
Headache is one of the most common symptoms of sudden caffeine withdrawal. It correlates to an increase in blood flow velocity in the brain that researchers have documented in withdrawal subjects. While consumption of caffeine results in constricted blood vessels in the brain, which reduces blood flow, discontinuing caffeine results in wide-open blood vessels and increased brain blood flow, which sparks the withdrawal headache.
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