The effects of caffeine on blood pressure and heart rate: A review

. 1996 Sep;18(3):201-16.

doi: 10.1007/BF02883398.

P J Green 
¹
, R Kirby, J Suls

Affiliations

Affiliation

• ¹ Department of Psychology, Spence Laboratories, University of Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA.

• PMID:

  24203773

• DOI:

  10.1007/BF02883398

P J Green et al.

Ann Behav Med.

1996 Sep.

. 1996 Sep;18(3):201-16.

doi: 10.1007/BF02883398.

Authors

P J Green 
¹
, R Kirby, J Suls

Affiliation

• ¹ Department of Psychology, Spence Laboratories, University of Iowa, 52242, Iowa City, IA.

• PMID:

  24203773

• DOI:

  10.1007/BF02883398

Abstract

Concerns have been raised frequently about caffeine’s potential for increasing blood pressure (BP) and posing a risk for cardiovascular disease. This review surveys research concerning the effects of caffeine on BP and heart rate (HR). Tolerance to caffeine, family history of hypertension, borderline hypertension, and hypertension are also examined as potential moderators. Results from epidemiological studies are inconsistent. Experimental laboratory studies have generally found that caffeine produces acute rises in systolic and diastolic BP that are additive to any stress-induced increases. Synergistic effects which might pose a more serious risk are rarely found. Heart rate data are less consistent, possibly due to the different ways HR is measured. Tolerance to the cardiovascular effects of caffeine has reliably been reported; however, overnight abstinence may be sufficient to negate tolerance effects to most levels of caffeine ingestion in typical caffeine users. Though caffeine drinkers may exhibit acute increases in BP, the long-term effects appear to be minimal. However, persons at risk for hypertension may be more vulnerable to the BP effects of caffeine.

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Caffeine Effect On Your Heart

Tea and coffee are amazingly beneficial beverages. The majority contain caffeine, a substance that can enhance your mood, metabolism, and mental and physical performance. Studies also show that it is safe for most people when consumed at low to moderate levels. Nevertheless, high intakes of caffeine can have uncomfortable and dangerous side effects.

In addition, several pieces of research show that genes significantly influence tolerance. As a result, some people can consume much more caffeine than others without experiencing adverse effects. In addition, people not used to caffeine may experience symptoms after consuming what is generally considered a moderate dose.

Some side effects of excessive caffeine intake can include anxiety, insomnia, digestive issues, muscle breakdown, addiction, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, fatigue, frequent urination, and urgency. However, the bottom line is that light-to-moderate caffeine consumption appears to provide impressive health benefits to many people.

On the other hand, high dosages can cause side effects that interfere with daily life and even cause serious health problems. Even though reactions differ from one person to another, the results of high intake demonstrate that more is not necessarily better. So, you can get the benefits of caffeine without undesirable effects, make an accurate evaluation of your sleep, energy levels, and other factors influenced, and reduce your intake if necessary.

Rapid Heart Rate

The stimulant effects of high caffeine intake can make your heart beat faster. Unfortunately, it can also lead to an altered heart rhythm, called atrial fibrillation. This disorganized heart rhythm occurs in the upper chambers of the heart. It is the most common arrhythmia; it happens when many unstable electrical impulses fail and can cause the atria to quiver out of control. It causes the heart rate to increase and become erratic and can raise your heart rate much faster than average.

This situation shows when youths consume energy beverages containing extremely high doses of caffeine. In one case study, a woman taking a massive amount of caffeine powder and tablets in a suicide attempt developed a fast heart rate, kidney failure, and other serious health problems.

Nevertheless, this effect does not seem to occur in everyone; some individuals with cardiac issues may be able to tolerate enormous amounts of caffeine without any adverse effects. For example, in a controlled study, when fifty-one patients with heart failure consumed one hundred mg of caffeine every sixty minutes for five hours, their heart rates and rhythms remained normal. Regardless of the study’s mixed results, if you notice any change in your heart frequency or rhythm after drinking caffeinated drinks, consider reducing your consumption.

Caffeine Consumption

Caffeine is an incredibly popular stimulant. More than 85% of the US population consumes at least one caffeinated beverage daily, with 96% coming from coffee, tea, and soft drinks. If you enjoy caffeinated beverages but have noticed heart palpitations, you may wonder if your daily caffeinated beverage is guilty of causing the heart palpitations.

You should try to keep your heart as healthy as possible. Heart palpitations, although brief and short-lived, should not be ignored, as they may indicate an underlying problem with your heart. Visit your doctor if you suspect that lifestyle habits such as drinking caffeine are causing these heart symptoms. Your doctor should perform a comprehensive evaluation to check the health of your heart. We will discuss caffeine, how it can cause heart palpitations, and what you can do about it.

Heart Palpitations

Most of the time, you are probably unaware of your heartbeat or rhythm. An average resting heart rate is sixty to a hundred beats per minute, and the heart has a characteristic rhythm when it beats. Unless your heart beats fast or forcefully, you may not notice it beating. Heart palpitation is when sensing that your heart is beating irregularly. It may feel like banging, pulsing too quickly, or pounding. Typical reasons for heart palpitations include exercise, stress, and certain medications. Stimulants, including caffeine, affect heart rate, but just how does it affect the heart?

Caffeine And Your Heart

One of the most investigated dietary ingredients is caffeine, and we know a lot about how it impacts the body. But the research exploring caffeine’s link to heart palpitations has been inconsistent, with some studies reporting a connection and others not. This situation is because, in healthy people, caffeine does not appear to cause heart palpitations. Still, some individuals may be more susceptible to the effects of caffeine and may experience cardiac symptoms such as palpitations.

Caffeine affects the heart in multiple ways. For instance, it promotes the release of noradrenaline and norepinephrine. Noradrenaline is a chemical produced by some nerve cells and in the adrenal gland; norepinephrine is a vasoconstrictor used as a vasopressor. First, these hormones increase heart rate and blood pressure. In addition, caffeine can act on enzymes that stimulate heart contractions, causing the heart to contract more forcefully.

Are Palpitations Because Of Caffeine Consumption?

For many years, researchers believed that caffeine’s stimulant effects on the heart were responsible for heart palpitations. Recent investigation suggests that this is not necessarily the case. However, that doesn’t mean caffeine isn’t causing your heart symptoms and doesn’t vindicate caffeine entirely.

The body adjusts to the effects of caffeine. Therefore, it is unlikely that healthy people who regularly drink coffee will experience symptoms such as heart palpitations. However, caffeine can cause heart palpitations in people with caffeine sensitivity and those with an underlying heart condition.

If you are new to consuming caffeine or are used to drinking excessive amounts, you are more likely to experience cardiac symptoms. However, the only way to be sure is to visit a heart specialist for a checkup.

Caffeine Overdose Is Rare

Caffeine overdose is very rare. It generally implies high amounts of caffeine consumed in powder or tablet form, not drinks. The reason is simple; it is very complicated to get that much caffeine when drinking fluids because of the time it takes to consume them. The lethal dose of caffeine for most people is about ten grams, although this varies from person to person. A cup of coffee has approximately a hundred to two hundred milligrams of caffeine. An energy drink contains between fifty and three hundred mg of caffeine. A can of soda generally has less than seventy mg. Therefore, even with the most caffeinated energy drink, you would still have to drink about thirty of them in quick succession to reach the ten grams range.

If you tried to drink that many beverages with caffeine, chances are your body would halt you before reaching toxic levels. Most of the time, if individuals have severe signs of caffeine toxicity, it starts with nausea and vomiting. So that is somewhat protective because you get sick and throw up the caffeine before it gets too toxic. However, with caffeine powder or tablets, you may be ingesting a large amount simultaneously. One teaspoon of the powder has three thousand and two hundred mg of caffeine.

If you suspect a caffeine overdose, go to the emergency room, and report it to your doctor any caffeinated products you consumed before having symptoms. Your doctor may also monitor your breathing, heartbeat, and blood pressure. In addition, they may check your temperature and undergo a urine or blood test to identify medications in your system.

Usually, there are no long-term health problems after treating caffeine overdose, but this situation can be life-threatening, especially for younger patients, such as infants and young children. Caffeine overdoses can also worsen pre-existing health conditions, such as anxiety. When the administration of the treatment is too late, it can result in irreversible health problems and even death. At the very least, you should call the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) if you suspect a caffeine overdose.

Treatment In Case Of Caffeine Overdose

The treatment for a caffeine overdose should be getting it out of the body while controlling the symptoms. You may need to take activated charcoal, a common drug overdose remedy that often prevents caffeine from entering the gastrointestinal tract. If caffeine has already entered your gastrointestinal tract, you may have to use a laxative or gastric lavage. Gastric lavage involves utilizing a tube to pump and wash out the contents of your stomach.

Your physician will likely choose the procedure that works fastest to get the caffeine out of your body. During this time, the doctor will monitor your heart through an ECG (electrocardiogram). You may also receive respiratory support when necessary.

Home treatment may not always speed up your body’s metabolism to eliminate caffeine. If you are unsure whether you need treatment, call your doctor or the Poison Control Department and describe your symptoms. If they say your symptoms are severe, you may need immediate treatment at your local hospital.

Importance Of A Heart Health Check

It is vital to get a medical screening if you have heart symptoms. Several heart conditions can cause heart palpitations, which include atrial fibrillation, mitral valve prolapse, mitral valve prolapse, congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and atrial flutter. Some of these conditions can be serious and may require treatment.

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How does coffee affect blood vessels and the brain?

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21.10.2022

“It is worth tasting coffee, everything seems to flash, and thoughts crowd like battalions on the battlefield” – the words of Honore de Balzac, a well-known connoisseur of the drink. It is said that his daily dose reached 50 cups of strong coffee. Throughout the history of this drink, the impression has been that it goes hand in hand with the muse of many geniuses. Is this due to the effect of caffeine on mental activity? And how does coffee affect the vessels of the brain?

COFFEE AND INTELLIGENCE. IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?

Let’s answer the question right away – there is no connection. But there is a direct impact on performance. This is because caffeine stimulates the heart rate, which means it increases blood supply, including to the brain.

After drinking a cup, the majority notes not only an increase in concentration, but also the speed of simple physical actions. For this reason, many gym goers drink a cup of espresso or americano an hour before their workout. Physical activity is easier, movements become clearer, and there is enough energy until the end of the session.

But the speed of work and quality are two different things, so it’s not worth looking for the relationship between genius and love for coffee.

HOW DOES COFFEE AFFECT THE VESSELS OF THE BRAIN?

A frequent question for those who think about their health. Caffeine is known to constrict blood vessels in the brain. This explains the effect of the “pills”, when after strong coffee the headache becomes less or completely disappears. At the same time, the vessels of the peripheral system expand under the influence of caffeine. Hence, for some time, hypotension increases blood pressure.

Any food and drinks have a similar effect on blood vessels – the body produces adrenaline, blood and oxygen enter the tissues faster. Therefore, for a healthy person, moderate consumption of a fragrant drink gives only a positive effect.

The health benefits of coffee are still not fully understood. For example, scientists are now studying the link between coffee consumption and a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

HOW TO DRINK COFFEE CORRECTLY

Here are some simple rules, following which you can enjoy great taste without harm to your health:

• Drink coffee in small portions. A small cup of strong espresso is enough to recharge your performance batteries.
• do not exceed 3-5 coffees per day. They contain approximately 400 mg. caffeine is the recommended daily allowance for this substance for an adult.
• choose only quality coffee, instant or in beans. This directly affects the taste, benefits and your enjoyment of the drink. can be sure of the quality of the purchased product for coffee machines. All stages of production comply with international standards, and only selected coffee beans serve as raw materials.

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The effect of coffee on the body – what is the benefit and what is the harm?

Preparing a daily cup of coffee, we do not even think about how this drink affects our body. Well, except for being invigorating. But daily use in one way or another affects the organ systems. But caffeine brings benefits or harms – we will talk about this in the article.

What is in a coffee bean?

Before we analyze the effect of coffee on the human body, let’s see what a coffee bean is.

Coffee beans contain over 2000 different substances, including:

• iron;
• magnesium;
• pyridine;
• calcium;
• quinic acid;
• oxalic acid;
• vitamins of different groups;
• tannins;
• nitrogen;
• mineral salts, etc.

Leading this march is caffeine. This substance belongs to alkaloids, depending on dosages, caffeine can have both a tonic effect and depress the central nervous system.

Caffeine in medicine

Caffeine is used in medicine as a psychostimulant. It is indicated for diseases that are accompanied by depression of the functions of the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system, with bedwetting, to increase the overall tone.

Caffeine is available in 100 mg and 200 mg tablets. One cup of coffee usually contains about the same amount of caffeine. Adult patients are prescribed two or three times a day from 50 mg to 100 mg. From this it follows that the permissible dose of coffee consumption is up to 3 cups per day. We will talk about the effect of coffee on the body with specific diseases further.

How does coffee affect various human organ systems?

You may have noticed that along with increased performance after morning espresso, you get heartburn, as well as frequent urge to urinate. Have you ever wondered if it could be due to caffeine? Let’s figure it out.

The effect of coffee on the heart and blood vessels

Under the influence of caffeine, the heart rate increases. For a young, healthy heart, as well as elastic vessels, this effect is positive at moderate doses. But for people who are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, a rapid heartbeat can cause complications: lack of oxygen in the heart muscle, hypertensive crisis. And for people with coronary heart disease, high doses of caffeine can trigger arrhythmias and even heart attacks.

The effect of coffee on the stomach

The effect of coffee on the stomach and gastrointestinal tract is due not so much to caffeine as to the acids contained in the drink. Their action is to stimulate the work of the gastric secretion, which entails the acceleration of the digestion of food and the activation of the production of gastric juice. If there are no pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, and coffee is not consumed in excess of the norm, then the drink will help to improve digestion and stool. But for people with gastritis, stomach ulcers, such benefits from coffee can be harmful, so you should give it up and switch to herbal teas and cocoa.

The effect of coffee on the liver

The effect of coffee on the liver is an ongoing debate. Some doctors say that the drink is useful, others are inclined to believe that it is harmful. It is important to note that when drinking natural coffee, a person with a healthy liver is not in danger. But instant coffee is generally not recommended to anyone.

As for the benefits, we all know that the liver cleanses our body. And since caffeine promotes the release of gastric secretions and improves metabolism, the purification processes are accelerated. It should also be said that coffee beans contain components involved in lipid metabolism. This reduces the risk of fatty liver disease. And the drink helps to prevent the formation of scar tissue, which contributes to the rapid regeneration of the organ.

It is better to consult your doctor about whether it is worth drinking coffee in case of liver diseases.

The effect of coffee on the brain and nervous system

Regular consumption of coffee improves cognitive abilities, reactions, logical thinking, reduces the effects of stress and the occurrence of depression. However, abuse and excess doses leads to depression, lethargy, insomnia. Therefore, you can drink no more than 3 cups a day and no later than 14:00-15:00.

The effect of coffee on the kidneys

Approximately 10% of caffeine is excreted unchanged from the body by the kidneys. With constant use, most diuresis increases, which means that a person often goes to the toilet in a small way. This entails increased fluid loss, disrupting the metabolic processes of electrolytes and minerals. Along with this, calcium and sodium are washed out of the body. Together, these processes can lead to the formation of kidney stones. Therefore, after each cup of coffee, it is recommended to drink a glass of clean water to replenish the water balance.

The effect of coffee on a woman’s body – can pregnant women drink the drink?

As for the effect of caffeine on the body of a future mother, it is worth saying here that you should use the invigorating elixir with caution.