Are you addicted to caffeine? Do you wake up and think about coffee, and can’t be productive without that fourth cup? Surprisingly, what you may think of as a coffee addiction is not actually addiction. However, there are still negative consequences to your excessive consumption, just not in the ways you might think. Your dependence on more and more coffee is due to an increased tolerance. Meaning, after a while, you have to drink more caffeine to feel the same magnitude of effects you did as the first time you consumed it. Your increased coffee tolerance leads to excessive wanting and craving of caffeine, otherwise known as incentive sensitization. This increases your susceptibility and sensitization to cocaine and other highly addictive drugs.
Today, there are many cues and triggers for caffeine. People can’t walk past a Starbucks without craving a coffee, or can’t eat breakfast without a freshly brewed cup. This incentive sensitization leads to changes in the reward pathway in the brain. This reward pathway is shared with many other highly addictive drugs. So, there is cross-sensitization because these caffeine-induced changes affect your body’s reaction to cocaine. A person who experiences this pathway change and does cocaine (even if it is their first time) will experience increased locomotor effects to the drug. They will also have increased wanting for more drug because they feel the effects to a higher degree.
An important point to remember is that sensitization is not synonymous with addiction. However, sensitization can be a precursor for the development of a drug addiction. Cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization can lead to craving the drug more and being more likely to try it again. This incentive sensitization to cocaine is different than the craving for caffeine. Excessive wanting of cocaine can ultimately lead to escalated drug intake.
You may be wondering, why can you be addicted to cocaine and not coffee when both are craved and being taken repeatedly? Repeated and increased cocaine use can potentially lead to addiction because there is compulsive seeking and use of cocaine even though it has harmful physiological and psychological consequences. Caffeine does not have harmful effects on the body that cause repeated use, which is a requirement for addiction. Be careful, because even though your coffee dependence isn’t an addiction, you risk becoming highly susceptible to cocaine which can put you on the path towards drug addiction.
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Sources:
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