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- THE WEEK, Page 26HEALTH & SCIENCEGo Slow Off the Joe
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- Moderate coffee drinkers can suffer if they give up caffeine
- too quickly
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- People who down more than three cups of coffee a day know how
- awful they can feel when they can't get their caffeine fix. Now
- a study reveals that even those who sip just two or three cups
- a day can become anxious, drowsy, sluggish, headachy and
- depressed if they go cold turkey on Java. The symptoms can be so
- severe that people stay home from work or visit their doctor,
- who may fail to tie the patient's problems to sudden cessation
- of coffee consumption. In the experiment, people deprived of
- caffeine complained that they felt worse than when they had the
- flu, and one woman noted the sickness was as bad as what she
- experienced while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for
- cancer. Caffeine withdrawal may explain the puzzling distress
- some people suffer following surgery (pre-op procedure often
- prohibits food or liquids), or on weekends (no office
- coffeepot), or during visits with people who prefer
- decaffeinated beverages. The findings, reported in the New
- England Journal of Medicine by a Johns Hopkins University team,
- may apply equally to moderate drinkers of tea or caffeinated
- sodas. Those wanting to give up caffeine are advised to reduce
- their consumption gradually over a few days.
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