According toEveryday Health, caffeine jitters mimic a scary event, moving the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode.
This response increases your heart rate and breathing and also may cause shaking (viaVeryWellMind).
Plus, this survival state also spikes your cortisol levels aka the stress hormone.
These sensations are very close to anxiety and the body can’t tell the difference.
The DSM-5 manual even has a subclass called “caffeine-induced anxiety disorder.”
Record how you feel on the days that you drink coffee versus the days that you don’t.
Bowling recommends consuming caffeine in moderation while keeping track of the way you feel when you refrain from coffee.
The bottom line is that caffeine can make anxiety worse in some cases.
