3 ms·
> 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
by 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 agoGenerally speaking, greater tolerance of a drug is correlated with higher rates of addiction, but... "correlated", so...?
- zzalpha 10y agoTolerance 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]