Many people start the day with a cup of coffee. The coffee itself contains caffeine, but many add sugar to the morning drink as well. For some, suddenly quitting use of caffeinated or sugary products can cause unpleasant side effects like headaches. This is due to the fact that caffeine is addictive, and sugar may be as well.
Caffeine
Caffeine is inherently present in numerous substances including coffee, chocolate and tea. Likewise, it's added to substances like soda and energy drinks to make them addictive and to give users an energy boost. You only need to consume 100 mg a day to be addicted to caffeine, yet up to 90 percent of people in North America consume 280 mg of caffeine daily, according to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.
Sugar
Sugar is in numerous different foods. It's naturally present in fruit and is added as a supplement to bakery treats, cookies and candy. It's also present in sodas. Processed or refined sugars can cause many health problems including heart disease and diabetes.
Addiction
Caffeine is an addictive substance, as mentioned previously; however, studies are now showing that sugar may be addictive as well. According to a study conducted at Princeton University in 2002, sugar is treated similarly, yet less drastically, to morphine and heroin by the brains of rats. Because of this, stopping your sugar intake abruptly could cause unpleasant symptoms.
Withdrawal
As with any addiction, if you quit taking the substance abruptly, you are likely to develop withdrawal symptoms. According to the World Health Organization, caffeine withdrawal can cause headaches, depression, fatigue and irritability. Sugar withdrawal can also cause headaches, though they aren't likely to be as severe as caffeine-withdrawal headaches. If you abruptly stop consuming sugar, you're more likely to experience fatigue than headaches.
Treatment
Dealing with sugar and caffeine headaches can be uncomfortable and inhibit your lifestyle; however, you can remedy the problem by weaning yourself off the substances rather than cutting them out suddenly. Allow yourself one caffeinated beverage per day or every other day or one sugary snack. Slowly increase the amount of time between servings so you don't have to deal with severe headaches.
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