Additionally some people may not notice any withdrawal symptoms whereas others may notice many. For example someone that is naturally more mentally aroused may have an easier time withdrawing from caffeine than someone who is naturally underaroused. Various physiological factors may impact your ability to withdraw from caffeine. Factors that influence caffeine withdrawal include: 1. For this reason, many people prefer to withdraw and take on life naturally – without the influence of drugs. Although caffeine is one of the safest ways to “perk up” in the morning, some note that it can lead to long term dependency. However, not everyone likes relying on a drug to help them get through the day. Most people consume caffeine to help them fully wake up and feel stimulated before the work day. It has been shown to improve learning, memory, coordination, and overall cognitive performance.

It also has a smaller influence on cortisol, epinephrine, and glutamate production. Since caffeine is an antagonist for the adenosine receptors, it tends to speed up nervous system activity in a dose-related manner.Īs a natural consequence of blocking the adenosine receptors, it can also influence the effects of other major neurotransmitters including acetylcholine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Adenosine itself works as an inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps suppress activity in the central nervous system. It works primarily as an adenosine antagonist. All rights reserved.Caffeine is the most universally consumed stimulant of the central nervous system. The CWSQ should facilitate the assessment and diagnosis of caffeine withdrawal and increase our knowledge of the caffeine withdrawal syndrome.Ĭopyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Compared to non-daily coffee consumers, daily consumers had greater increases in total withdrawal, fatigue/drowsiness, low alertness/difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and headache.įuture directions include replication, assessment on a clinical population, and further examination of psychometric properties of the CWSQ. With the exception of nausea/upset stomach, the CWSQ total score and individual composite scores were significantly greater during caffeine abstinence relative to both baseline and double-blind consumption of caffeinated coffee, thereby demonstrating sensitivity of the measure. Principal components analysis resulted in a solution comprised of 7-factors: (1) Fatigue/drowsiness (2) Low alertness/difficulty concentrating (3) Mood disturbances (4) Low sociability/motivation to work (5) Nausea/upset stomach (6) Flu-like feelings and (7) Headache. A subset of participants also completed the CWSQ during a preceding baseline period and/or after double-blind consumption of caffeinated coffee. To develop, evaluate, and reduce a 23-item measure of caffeine withdrawal symptoms the Caffeine Withdrawal Symptom Questionnaire (CWSQ), to a set of composite variables.Ĭaffeine consumers (N=213) completed the CWSQ after 16h of caffeine abstinence.

Furthermore, a validated measure of caffeine withdrawal is lacking. The caffeine withdrawal syndrome has been documented across many experimental studies however, little is known about how withdrawal symptoms co-vary during a discrete episode. Habitual caffeine consumers who abstain from caffeine experience withdrawal symptoms such as headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and flu-like symptoms (Juliano and Griffiths, 2004).

Caffeine withdrawal symptoms dration