If you shudder at the thought of having to start the day without a cup of coffee, new research hints at why you may feel this way.
Regular coffee drinkers seem to need caffeine to return to their normal state of alertness and to avoid the side effects of caffeine withdrawal such as headaches. That runs counter to popular belief that drinking caffeinated beverages offers some added boost in alertness, the researchers said.
"Although caffeine consumers feel alerted by caffeine, the effect is actually only bringing you back from caffeine withdrawal-induced, low-level alertness," said study author Peter Rogers, a professor in the department of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol in England. "You are not gaining anything over and above a non-consumer of caffeine."
The study is published online in the journal