Caffeine is something that a large percentage of the global population consumers every single day between coffee, soda, and energy drinks, but one YouTuber reveals exactly what happens inside your body if you were to abruptly stop drinking anything with it in.
You've likely heard someone utter that they can't function without their morning coffee at least once in your life, but there's a lot of weight behind the effects - and eventual dependancy - that many experience after a daily dose of caffeine.
Whether you're on the extreme end of banned energy drinks with unhealthy amounts or simply that you enjoy a caffeinated drink during the day to perk you up, the effects it has on your body to keep you awake and raise your energy levels are clear to see.
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What would happen if you went from consuming large amounts of caffeine every single day to cutting it out completely though? Thankfully one YouTuber shares their experience with such an experiment, and it's unfortunately not a pretty sight.
What happens when you stop consuming caffeine?
Health and science focused YouTuber Heme Review has previously outlined the dangers of taking what many are calling 'nature's Ozempic', but his run in with caffeine withdrawal made him question the daily habits he had picked up during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
"When 2020 happened, I definitely got myself into a nice coffee ritual because I could finally brew it at home for breakfast," he explains. This got him into the habit of drinking an entire pot before 2pm every single day, although one complex video shoot meant that he went without any caffeine accidentally for two days straight.
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"We got there mid morning about 10am. I hadn't had any coffee or caffeine, but I brought plenty of water. The shoot lasted until around 8pm and basically, any time I have been consuming caffeine regularly, I don't drink anything containing it after around 2pm. So, when we finished the shoot no caffeine could be consumed that day, and the next day, I could feel it."
Within just a single day without caffeine he began to experience the horrific withdrawal effects, which he described as including hangover-like headaches, the feeling of needing to vomit, and excess saliva production.
"I remember standing at the sink in a Target, gripping the sides of the sink and I can feel my guts wrangling in a way that it normally doesn't do. It felt like there was an earthquake in my abdomen and I remember the struggle to just not empty my stomach into the toilet completely," he recounted.
"The reason how I knew it was caffeine withdrawal was because at that Target, I bought two bottles of Mountain Dew, and I chugged them, and within an hour basically everything went away."
How does caffeine withdrawal work?
While the incredibly unpleasant effects that caffeine withdrawal can have on your body are clear, the reason behind why we experience it - especially after such a short amount of time - are fascinating.
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Caffeine, unlike more extreme stimulants, doesn't cause excess stimulatory neurotransmitter release, but instead simply counteracts the adenosine that is naturally inside the body.
Adenosine promotes sleep, regulates your heart rate, and dilates your bloody vessels, and caffeine simply counteracts this effectively keeping your body trucking on by preventing the adenosine reaction instead of actively stimulating your brain.
"Biological systems tend to adapt to the conditions placed on them, so if the body needs adenosine for a normal function but you have an exogenous compound, caffeine, that's present in blocking the function of adenosine, then that biological system will want to respond by creating more adenosine receptors in the hopes that it can get some signal from adenosine," Heme Review illustrates.
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When you go without caffeine though, even if its just for a day, your body naturally produces far more adenosine without the caffeine to counteract it, leading to the horrible side effects that you'd experience within the withdrawal.