Lethal dose of caffeine in tea and coffee: can you die?

Coffee overdose

The symptom of overdose is familiar to many coffee lovers. Breathing becomes shallow, the heart beats quickly, and seems to “gurgle” or “bubble” in the chest. The skin turns pale, hands and feet are cold and trembling. The person feels hot and cold, and may break out in a cold sweat. My head is spinning and I'm starting to get motion sick.

This is due to the fact that the vessels narrow sharply, and oxygen and blood do not reach the brain and capillaries in sufficient quantities. Usually people get scared and, as a last resort, call doctors, but more often than not everything goes away just like that. You need to drink water to reduce the concentration of caffeine so that it is absorbed more slowly. But you usually don’t get the hang of coffee. These are just unpleasant sensations, and the overdose quickly wears off.

The sensations from a coffee overdose usually go away within 15-20 minutes. It is advisable to take a short nap after this, and when you wake up, give up coffee that day.

How does coffee affect the body?

The main active ingredient of the drink is caffeine, which increases the feeling of vigor, enhances the tone of blood vessels and improves gastric secretion. At the same time, an overdose of coffee and caffeine causes a number of unpleasant sensations, including tachycardia (increased heart rate), insomnia, hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) and anxiety.

There is an opinion that caffeine is a stimulant of the nervous system. But at its core. It is wrong. This alkaloid does not have a direct stimulating effect.

In its chemical structure, it is similar to a substance that is involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness called adenosine. By binding to specific receptors on nerve cells located in the brain, adenosine gives a signal that the “guard is tired” and it’s time to sleep. Caffeine itself is able to bind to these receptors, preventing adenosine from reaching them. Thus, it blocks the transmission of the signal of fatigue, and the person remains alert. After a couple of hours, most of the caffeine will be eliminated from the body, adenosine receptors will be freed, and the state of fatigue will return.

In addition, by blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine simultaneously increases the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. And dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters that causes a feeling of satisfaction and can lift your mood.

Caffeine causes an increase in the levels of the main stress hormones – cortisol and adrenaline. As a result, tachycardia occurs, there is an increase in blood pressure and acceleration of blood flow and, as a result, the supply of oxygen to tissues improves. All this also prevents the body from falling asleep.

Let us also mention the weak diuretic effect of caffeine.

From the above, it becomes clear that exceeding the dose of caffeine is not recommended. And the point here is not only that the described unpleasant symptoms of stress can intensify and even lead to coma. The main danger (even two) is the body’s addiction. On the one hand, this will lead to the need to produce more and more hormones and mediators to achieve the same level of effect as before. And, on the other hand, it will contribute to the depletion of their synthesis.

How much coffee does it take to die?

Scientists conducted studies to calculate the lethal dose of caffeine. For obvious reasons, there were no groups of volunteers, so all calculations are purely theoretical, or based on data on the death of people who consumed too much caffeine (in tablets or powder). The average lethal dose is 10 grams. A cup of black coffee contains approximately 80 mg of caffeine.

In order for the dose to be lethal, you need to get about 80 mg of caffeine per kilogram of weight.

• For a person weighing 60 kg, the dose is approximately 60 cups over 2-4 hours. This is 12 liters.
• For a person weighing 80 kg – 80 cups. This is 16 liters of coffee.

About one cup every two minutes. Strong, black, good coffee. Another thing is that you physically won’t be able to drink that much: after just 3-5 cups in a short period of time you will feel all the symptoms of an overdose. You will immediately want to lie down, you will feel nauseated, and perhaps vomiting will appear, as the body suffers from intoxication and seeks to get rid of the poison.

The strongest coffee in the world is Death Wish Coffee. A 30 ml cup contains about 50 mg of caffeine.

A few facts that it is almost impossible to die from coffee:

• The stomach simply physically cannot fit 12-16 liters of coffee in an hour or two.
• Too much fluid will cause you to vomit.
• Intoxication will also cause vomiting.
• Caffeine is sometimes used as an antidote: it has a tanning effect on the walls of the stomach, and they stop absorbing substances. Including, the caffeine itself will be absorbed after some time.
• The diuretic effect will work: the liquid will be rapidly excreted.
• The acids contained in the drink will cause the intestines to become active and cause diarrhea. You won't have time for new servings of coffee in this state.

Women are more sensitive to caffeine than men. Their body quickly recognizes the poison in it and strives to get rid of it.

How long do alcoholics live?

The life expectancy of those who suffer from alcoholism is significantly reduced. 20% of patients live more than 50 years. Acute heart failure often causes early death in drunkards under 40 years of age. A dangerous habit is fraught with a significant deterioration in quality and a decrease in life expectancy. The risk of leaving this world prematurely increases. There is no clear answer to the question of how long alcoholics live. Much depends on the age at which a person developed a harmful addiction, whether there are associated problems, etc. That is, the life expectancy of a drinker is determined by the strength of the body. Sudden deaths before age 30 are common. The average life expectancy is 48-55 years. However, this is under fortunate circumstances. 25% of addicted people do not live to reach the specified age mark.

Only by stopping drinking in a timely manner does a person suffering from an illness get a chance to prolong their life. However, in many cases, medical assistance cannot be avoided. Then a person will be able to cope with addiction and get rid of addiction.

Risks to think about

Healthy people are in little danger. But in some cases, an overdose of caffeine can actually be fatal. You need to be careful in the following cases:

• If you have diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• If you drink coffee after alcohol poisoning;
• If you rarely drink coffee, but are now going to drink a cup of strong natural coffee;
• In a state of lack of sleep, stress, acclimatization, jet lag.

Basically, by monitoring your condition, you will feel the symptoms of an overdose. Drink water, try to take a reclining position, induce vomiting. This is unpleasant, but rarely fatal. If you feel that something is wrong, call an ambulance and rinse your stomach.

What is a caffeine jitters?

Experts use this term to describe the negative effects of large amounts of coffee on the central nervous system.

With a coffee scare, a person:

• shakes the whole body, sometimes begins to hit surrounding objects;
• feels anxious;
• his speech ceases to be coherent;
• the face becomes covered with red spots;
• the need to urinate becomes more frequent;
• Nausea appears.

When experiencing any of these signs, a person sometimes hopes that a mug of coffee will help him pull himself together.

In this case, the most unpleasant thing happens - a coffee addiction develops: the more a person drinks, the worse he becomes, but he continues to hope for his “medicine” and take it.

If you are interested in how coffee affects blood pressure (increases or lowers it), read our article.

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Conclusions:

1. People sometimes die from overdosing on caffeine tablets or energy drinks. From coffee - rarely. Maximum – an overdose occurs, and the body gets rid of toxins.
2. To die from coffee you need to drink 12-16 liters of black coffee in a couple of hours. And then, in the process there will be an overdose and vomiting.
3. If your heart hurts and you have all the symptoms of an overdose, drink a couple of glasses of water, lie down, and provide access to oxygen. You can induce vomiting. After 15-20 minutes, relief will come.
4. According to doctors, 2-3 cups of coffee a day will not harm people without serious cardiovascular diseases.

How addiction is formed

Anyone can become addicted to alcohol: you don’t have to drink strong alcohol to do so. The body reacts to any ethanol-containing drink - alcohol poisoning occurs. Over time, physical cravings develop. The blood alcohol level is the same whether it is 100 grams of vodka or 2 liters of beer.

For each person, the maximum dose of ethanol is individual. The manifestation of the disease is loss of control over drinking. At the same time, there is no critical perception of one’s state when drinking alcohol.

Over time, natural biochemical processes change. Physical cravings are formed when a person constantly needs ethanol. However, this does not happen immediately, but after the onset of psychological dependence. Initially, drinking is needed to overcome complexes or in an attempt to cope with problems or relieve stress. Over time, such a solution becomes the only acceptable one.

Without the opportunity to drink, a person’s mood and well-being worsen. Therefore, the frequency of drinking alcoholic beverages and the dose of ethanol are increasing. The craving for alcohol becomes out of control and pathological. All new doses are needed to overcome withdrawal symptoms, while the pleasure from drinking becomes less and less. The emotional reaction to alcohol-containing drinks changes.

Symptoms of intoxication

The consequences of an overdose of tea and coffee manifest themselves with varying degrees of intensity in different people.

Not everyone, unfortunately, immediately associates the deterioration of their condition with the consumption of their favorite drinks. Because of this, the solution to the problem is delayed, and intoxication enters the acute phase.

The first signs of an overdose may appear 15-20 minutes after drinking extra cups of invigorating drinks.

Fortunately, a mild overdose is quite easy to overcome; the main thing is to quickly diagnose yourself and start taking action.

Among the early symptoms:

• redness of the face (due to the fact that blood rushes to the muscle tissue);
• feverish shine of the eyes (their moistening is the result of increased work of the lacrimal glands under the influence of adrenaline);
• shortness of breath (experts call it “shallow”);
• heat in the body (due to the release of adrenaline and an increase in the amount of glucose in the blood);
• trembling in the limbs and body (starts from the tips of the fingers, knees, calves);
• rapid heartbeat;
• dizziness (accompanied by a slight haze before the eyes).

Late symptoms make themselves felt when coffee begins to be absorbed in the stomach. This:

• nausea (most often occurs if coffee is consumed on an empty stomach);
• heartburn, stomach pain;
• heavy sweating;
• diuretic effect (the result of caffeine's effect on the kidneys);
• problems with the stomach and intestines (colic, spasms).

Here are the symptoms that characterize an overdose in the acute phase:

• blue discoloration of the skin (indicates the onset of heart problems; blue discoloration appears first in the nasolabial folds and around the eyes);
• hallucinations (due to overexcitation of the central nervous system, brain);
• insomnia;
• nervousness (a symptom characteristic of constant, long-term overdoses, leading the nervous system to a state of stress).

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