Caffeine and Depression – Is there a Connection between them?
Caffeine and Depression – Is there a Connection between them?
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Although there are a number of things that can go wrong with us in our lives, depression seems to be one that almost all of us have to deal with at some point or another. I’m not simply talking about having the blues or being sad about something that is legitimate. I mean the mental illness that is known as depression. It is something that is not simply dismissed as being sadness in one’s life.
Nowadays many doctors have come to realize that depression is a not a short-term illness but one that needs to be dealt with long-term. It is not something that simply passes away with a quick treatment. It could be a lifetime illness.
There may actually be things that are causing your depression, however, that are within your ability to be able to control. A good example of this is some of the natural stimulants that we take in on a daily basis, such as caffeine. We get caffeine in a number of different items that we regularly eat, such as through chocolate, and in many of the sodas and the coffee that we drink.
There is a particular danger in caffeine as far as depression is concerned because many of the short-term effects of caffeine help to lift our moods in one way or another. Unfortunately, our body tends to recognize this and so it craves the caffeine in order to make us feel better when, in the long term caffeine is making us feel worse.
Another potential danger someone faced with depression might face is eating chocolate in order to overcome our depressed moods. Chocolate is a very powerful antioxidant and it does have the ability to help us to overcome a blue mood, at least on a temporary basis. Unfortunately, it is usually loaded with so much sugar that we end up feeling the effects of this long after the antioxidant effect has worn off.
If you would like to be able to feel the effects of chocolate without having the aftereffects of the sugar, you can either go for a very dark chocolate or you can get raw chocolate without any of the sugar added.
Most people find that by cutting caffeine out of their diet they are able to lift their mood to a certain extent. Of course, you are going to have some physical symptoms that go with withdrawal so it is best if you ease your way off of caffeine, but it certainly is worth a try if you are dealing with depression because of it.
