Can Coffee Affect Your Anxiety?

Your morning cup of joe could be contributing to your anxiety. Regular coffee drinkers consume an average of 3.3 cups a day. That’s a lot of coffee! In the U.S., anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness.

“Caffeine is stimulating. It can be hard for someone to tell whether the effects are due to caffeine or if the caffeine is contributing to the effects of anxiety… Caffeine is highly bioavailable and almost 100 percent absorbed by the body.”
– Mary Margaret Sweeney, Johns Hopkins, via ‘Men’s Health’

Consuming more than 250 milligrams of coffee, or about 2.5 cups, is more likely to trigger anxiety symptoms. So even if you just have those two cups, you could be adding to your stress.  And even though most would think eating with coffee would lessen the effects of coffee, it should be noted that eating a large breakfast with your coffee will not help to counteract the effects at all. The only solution may be to find a brand with less caffeine or switch to decaf.