Caffeine Tolerance: Fact or Fiction?

Caffeine is a stimulant found naturally in beverages like coffee and tea. It’s also added to others, such as energy drinks and soda.

Caffeine increases chemicals in your brain that improve mood, combat fatigue, and enhance focus.

For this reason, many people turn to their caffeine-containing beverage of choice to get their day started or pick themselves up from a mid-afternoon crash.

However, it’s thought that caffeine’s stimulating effects become less noticeable over time because your body becomes tolerant or less responsive to its effects.

Caffeine increases alertness and decreases fatigue by blocking adenosine from binding to its receptor. Regularly consuming caffeine increases the number of adenosine receptors, decreasing caffeine’s effects.

Regularly consuming caffeine can increase your tolerance to many of its effects, including those on blood pressure, exercise performance, and mental alertness and performance.

You can overcome caffeine tolerance by decreasing your daily intake of caffeine, consuming it less often, or consuming more than you normally do. However, the last option is not recommended.

Research suggests that healthy adults can safely consume up to 400 mg of caffeine per day. Pregnant women should consume less than 300 mg per day, with some research suggesting no more than 200 mg daily.

Many people consume caffeine-containing beverages like coffee, tea, and soft drinks for their energizing effects.

Regularly drinking these beverages increases adenosine receptors in your brain, allowing more adenosine molecules to bind them. This can decrease your body’s tolerance to caffeine’s stimulating effects over time.

You can reduce your tolerance to caffeine by decreasing your daily intake or consuming it less often, such as once or twice per week instead of daily.

Increasing your daily caffeine intake above what you normally consume can also reduce tolerance in the short term, but this is not recommended.