4 ms·

I often wonder what level of exposure you need to become addicted, and how much is controlled by individual variability. Speaking for myself, I'm a 2-3 cups a

by zzalpha 10y ago

I often wonder what level of exposure you need to become addicted, and how much is controlled by individual variability. Speaking for myself, I'm a 2-3 cups a day on the weekdays kind of person (up until about 2-3pm at which point I cut myself off). But on weekends I often have none (just too lazy to make a cup), and I've never experienced any associated withdrawal symptoms.

0xcde4c3db 10y ago
> I often wonder what level of exposure you need to become addicted, and how much is controlled by individual variability. The half-life of caffeine definitely has a lot of individual variability (3-7 hours is apparently the reference range, but I think the overall observed range is wider with e.g. other drugs or liver dysfunction). I'm not sure whether a longer or shorter half-life would be more conducive to addiction.
- S_Daedalus 10y ago
  Generally speaking, greater tolerance of a drug is correlated with higher rates of addiction, but... "correlated", so...?
  - zzalpha 10y ago
    Tolerance and half-life are related but not the same. A person may have low tolerance/high sensitivity (due to fewer adenosine receptors) but metabolize quickly. I actually find I have high sensitivity and metabolize slowly, which is why it's important I don't have coffee after mid-afternoon. My bet is that long half-life/slow metabolism increases predilection for addiction (due to longer duration of exposure), but that's just a guess.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
sotojuan 10y ago
I'm interested too as I drink 2-4 a day even on weekends but have sometimes gone without for random reasons like travel and stuff and I've never gotten withdrawals or even headaches.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  I find 3 cups (24 fl oz) to be a sort of tipping point where if I have been drinking more than that I notice when I don't have any (no headache though). I try to make fairly strong coffee.
khedoros 10y ago
I drink 8 ounces almost every morning at work. Some weekends, I have coffee. Some weekends, I have none. No headaches, nausea, etc. I enjoy the taste, and I do get the stimulant-like benefits, so my best guess is that I'm walking the razor's edge, or that I'm blessed with a relatively low sensitivity to the drug, or something. At night, I can have a espresso, coffee, or caffeinated soda at 9pm and be ready to sleep at 11. I've stopped drinking it for weeks at a time before, with no difficulty doing so. All of the stories about caffeine's extreme effects are completely alien to me; I've always considered it a fairly gentle substance.

by zzalpha 10y ago

0xcde4c3db 10y ago

> I often wonder what level of exposure you need to become addicted, and how much is controlled by individual variability. The half-life of caffeine definitely has a lot of individual variability (3-7 hours is apparently the reference range, but I think the overall observed range is wider with e.g. other drugs or liver dysfunction). I'm not sure whether a longer or shorter half-life would be more conducive to addiction.

S_Daedalus 10y ago
Generally speaking, greater tolerance of a drug is correlated with higher rates of addiction, but... "correlated", so...?
- zzalpha 10y ago
  Tolerance and half-life are related but not the same. A person may have low tolerance/high sensitivity (due to fewer adenosine receptors) but metabolize quickly. I actually find I have high sensitivity and metabolize slowly, which is why it's important I don't have coffee after mid-afternoon. My bet is that long half-life/slow metabolism increases predilection for addiction (due to longer duration of exposure), but that's just a guess.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]

sotojuan 10y ago

I'm interested too as I drink 2-4 a day even on weekends but have sometimes gone without for random reasons like travel and stuff and I've never gotten withdrawals or even headaches.

maxerickson 10y ago
I find 3 cups (24 fl oz) to be a sort of tipping point where if I have been drinking more than that I notice when I don't have any (no headache though). I try to make fairly strong coffee.

khedoros 10y ago

I drink 8 ounces almost every morning at work. Some weekends, I have coffee. Some weekends, I have none. No headaches, nausea, etc. I enjoy the taste, and I do get the stimulant-like benefits, so my best guess is that I'm walking the razor's edge, or that I'm blessed with a relatively low sensitivity to the drug, or something. At night, I can have a espresso, coffee, or caffeinated soda at 9pm and be ready to sleep at 11. I've stopped drinking it for weeks at a time before, with no difficulty doing so. All of the stories about caffeine's extreme effects are completely alien to me; I've always considered it a fairly gentle substance.