Caffeine and Anxiety Essay -- Does Coffee Cause Anxiety?, 2015

"We want to do a lot of stuff; we're not in great shape. We didn't get a good night's sleep. We're a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup." --Jerry Seinfeld I suffer from anxiety and depression. These are issues that influence my life on a daily basis, so I am quite attuned to them. I started to notice that sometimes, while I was drinking coffee, I would begin to have those tell-tale feelings of anxiety, and it made me wonder if it was the coffee triggering these attacks. After doing a little research, I found that I am not the only one out there who suffers from this specific problem. Coffee has been becoming more and more popular. It is now considered stylish to be walking down the street with a disposable Starbucks or Dunkin cup in our hands. They can be found all over Instagram as proof. Coffee shops are where people go to catch up with friends, study, have meetings, and more. With this new societal norm in mind, researchers have become increasingly concerned with caffeine’s role in panic and other anxiety disorders. Roland Griffiths, PhD, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine says, â€Å"People often see coffee, tea, and soft drinks simply as beverages rather than vehicles for a psychoactive drug. But caffeine can exacerbate anxiety and panic disorders.† How, you may ask. Caffeine works by blocking the depressant function of a chemical ca...