I’m a Canadian, and if you know anything about us Canadians we love drinking coffee. Nothing beats a nice hot medium double-double early in the morning from Tim Horton’s. But for someone suffering with anxiety, is it a good idea to be consuming coffee?
COFFEE AND ANXIETY?
If you are suffering from anxiety and you haven’t yet gone through the process of becoming aware of your anxiety symptoms and identifying what triggers them, I would suggest you limit or stop drinking coffee or any other beverage ( teas, colas, energy drinks…) that have moderate to high levels of caffeine until you are fully able to understand how it will make you feel and the physiological symptoms it will create. Otherwise your mind will jump to conclusions and think the worst, thus propelling you into an anxiety/panic attack.
MORNING COFFEE BEFORE SCHOOL
I remember this happening to me a few times when I was in high school. I use to grab myself a large cup of coffee from the local convenience store prior to heading off to school. I typically would be half done by the time I reached school and fully down prior to my first class starting.
While in my first class I would begin to experience the physiological effects the caffeine in the coffee was producing in my body. I’d feel flush, get the shakes, dizziness ( out-of-it) feeling, trouble breathing.
You have to remember that at this time in my life, I had no idea I was suffering from mismanaged anxiety, so for me to experience these symptoms was very scary and felt very real.
My mind immediately assumed the worst. I began to worry and think I was losing control, the sensation of not being able to breath only got worst with my negative thoughts and enhancing the feeling of being flush. I felt uneasy and would wiggle around in my chair, trying not to be too noticeable. I often would grab my pencil, tune my teacher out and just draw in my notebook trying to forget what it was I was feeling. But nothing really helped and the reason was simple….
….I wasn’t aware I had anxiety and I wasn’t aware that coffee was a trigger. When I experienced the symptoms, I thought I was going crazy, having a heart attack or losing control. I would ask myself, why am I feeling warm all of a sudden, why is my heart racing, and why am I shaking?
These were all unknowns to me. I thought the worst, and by thinking the worst I validated my symptoms and made them stronger to the point where they became unbearable and I had to make up an excuse to leave the classroom before I had a full blown panic attack and embarrassed myself.
LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT COFFEE
Coffee in and of itself is not bad, it is what is found inside coffee that can create a challenge for someone who is living with heightened anxiety. Coffee contains caffeeine which is a chemical compound that acts like a psychoactive stimulant that affects the central nervous system in humans.
Caffeine Side Effects
Here are a variety of side effects that caffeine can cause. You will notice that these side effects are similar to the symptoms you would experience when suffering from heightened anxiety. The side effects are listed in the image to the right.
The idea is to become aware of the side effects so that when you experience them you can know why and how they are caused, rather than jumping to any negative conclusions which only helps to fuel your anxiety and trigger panic.
So next time you drink any sort of beverage that has caffeine, know that you may experience one of the many side effects listed above and be prepared to control your thoughts and remember that you aren’t about to lose control or go crazy, it is simply the effects of the caffeine you just consumed.
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