Caffeine And Social Anxiety

[slayers]

Do you think I should avoid caffeine if i suffer from anxiety / social anxiety?

 

[answersfound]

This is just an overall bad question. It depends in what context. Caffeine may help people overcome social anxiety in some instances. It's not the substance, it's the body it's going into.

 

[member 2106]

If it's coffee, making sure not to drink it on an empty stomach can make a huge difference.

 

[slayers]

This is just an overall bad question

Always love the nice replies here on this forum such a friendly bunch...I guess you never asked a" bad question"
everyone is a genius here i forgot.... which i wonder because most people here seem to be "sicK" thought you would have figured it all out by now...

 

[FredSonoma]

I've found it to be the opposite if anything (with enough sugar added of course), I generally feel the most social after a cup of coffee. Also, unrelated to peating but I took a social psychology course and we talked about why "meeting for coffee" is so common, and something about yadayada makes you like each other more yadayada haha

 

[FredSonoma]

post 107178

This is just an overall bad question

Always love the nice replies here on this forum such a friendly bunch...I guess you never asked a" bad question"
everyone is a genius here i forgot.... which i wonder because most people here seem to be "sicK" thought you would have figured it all out by now...

The internet is not the best place to go if you are looking for a friendly bunch... But if you are, I think you will generally find this forum much better than others. Also, he probably didnt mean to put you down he was just being direct with you. The benefit of the doubt is probably your best bet with someone you have never met who you cannot even look in the eye.

 

[answersfound]

post 107199

post 107178

This is just an overall bad question

Always love the nice replies here on this forum such a friendly bunch...I guess you never asked a" bad question"
everyone is a genius here i forgot.... which i wonder because most people here seem to be "sicK" thought you would have figured it all out by now...

The internet is not the best place to go if you are looking for a friendly bunch... But if you are, I think you will generally find this forum much better than others. Also, he probably didnt mean to put you down he was just being direct with you. The benefit of the doubt is probably your best bet with someone you have never met who you cannot even look in the eye.

Yes, it was not my intention to be rude. I apologize for that. "Social anxiety" is not an isolated condition as we are conditioned to believe. It is indicative of a systematic issue in the metabolism that is manifesting as "social anxiety." Those with strong metabolisms typically are the most social and outspoken. So I think "social anxiety" is the body's way of saying, "I have a hierarchy of needs that need to be met first and I don't have the extra energy that socializing requires." So if caffeine is giving you a poor response, it seems to be indicative of poor liver health, as Haidut has mentioned from time to time. So I don't think "social anxiety" is necessarily a fear of people, but rather a protective mechanism that is communicating that there is healing that needs to be addressed. So if caffeine is exacerbating your anxiety symptoms, you may want to look at the big picture because your poor caffeine tolerance is reflective of your metabolic state, rather than dismissing caffeine as a substance that you don't tolerate.

I used to work with a girl who worked at Starbucks. I assumed she liked drinking coffee, but she told me she can't because it makes her tired. She was rude to customers and not very outgoing. She was fired after just a couple months because of her poor social skills. I've noticed this pattern where people who cannot tolerate coffee well also have poor social skills or are just more inhibited, so there seems to be some sort of relationship going on here. Meanwhile, my grandmother drinks 3 cups of coffee a day for many years, and is always in an excellent mood, and very outgoing and excited. She is on a cocktail of medications including antidepressants, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. and despite this constant assault, she has a great energy. She is active and has a large social circle.

This is why I have been interested in the Caffeine/Theanine combo. It allows people who normally cannot tolerate caffeine to do so. I think it can be an important tool to recovery when nothing seems to be working.

 

[michael94]

post 107203
The internet is not the best place to go if you are looking for a friendly bunch... But if you are, I think you will generally find this forum much better than others. Also, he probably didnt mean to put you down he was just being direct with you. The benefit of the doubt is probably your best bet with someone you have never met who you cannot even look in the eye.

Yes, it was not my intention to be rude. I apologize for that. "Social anxiety" is not an isolated condition as we are conditioned to believe. It is indicative of a systematic issue in the metabolism that is manifesting as "social anxiety." Those with strong metabolisms typically are the most social and outspoken. So I think "social anxiety" is the body's way of saying, "I have a hierarchy of needs that need to be met first and I don't have the extra energy that socializing requires." So if caffeine is giving you a poor response, it seems to be indicative of poor liver health, as Haidut has mentioned from time to time. So I don't think "social anxiety" is necessarily a fear of people, but rather a protective mechanism that is communicating that there is healing that needs to be addressed. So if caffeine is exacerbating your anxiety symptoms, you may want to look at the big picture because your poor caffeine tolerance is reflective of your metabolic state, rather than dismissing caffeine as a substance that you don't tolerate.

I used to work with a girl who worked at Starbucks. I assumed she liked drinking coffee, but she told me she can't because it makes her tired. She was rude to customers and not very outgoing. She was fired after just a couple months because of her poor social skills. I've noticed this pattern where people who cannot tolerate coffee well also have poor social skills or are just more inhibited, so there seems to be some sort of relationship going on here. Meanwhile, my grandmother drinks 3 cups of coffee a day for many years, and is always in an excellent mood, and very outgoing and excited. She is on a cocktail of medications including antidepressants, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. and despite this constant assault, she has a great energy.

Nutrition definitely accounts for a large part of anxiety, but genetics does too.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11960082

Even if an organism is fully nourished there are environments where it would be better to be weary of strangers. It's more complicated than just eating the ideal foods.

 

[answersfound]

post 107208

post 107203
The internet is not the best place to go if you are looking for a friendly bunch... But if you are, I think you will generally find this forum much better than others. Also, he probably didnt mean to put you down he was just being direct with you. The benefit of the doubt is probably your best bet with someone you have never met who you cannot even look in the eye.

Yes, it was not my intention to be rude. I apologize for that. "Social anxiety" is not an isolated condition as we are conditioned to believe. It is indicative of a systematic issue in the metabolism that is manifesting as "social anxiety." Those with strong metabolisms typically are the most social and outspoken. So I think "social anxiety" is the body's way of saying, "I have a hierarchy of needs that need to be met first and I don't have the extra energy that socializing requires." So if caffeine is giving you a poor response, it seems to be indicative of poor liver health, as Haidut has mentioned from time to time. So I don't think "social anxiety" is necessarily a fear of people, but rather a protective mechanism that is communicating that there is healing that needs to be addressed. So if caffeine is exacerbating your anxiety symptoms, you may want to look at the big picture because your poor caffeine tolerance is reflective of your metabolic state, rather than dismissing caffeine as a substance that you don't tolerate.

I used to work with a girl who worked at Starbucks. I assumed she liked drinking coffee, but she told me she can't because it makes her tired. She was rude to customers and not very outgoing. She was fired after just a couple months because of her poor social skills. I've noticed this pattern where people who cannot tolerate coffee well also have poor social skills or are just more inhibited, so there seems to be some sort of relationship going on here. Meanwhile, my grandmother drinks 3 cups of coffee a day for many years, and is always in an excellent mood, and very outgoing and excited. She is on a cocktail of medications including antidepressants, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. and despite this constant assault, she has a great energy.

Nutrition definitely accounts for a large part of anxiety, but genetics does too.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11960082

Even if an organism is fully nourished there are environments where it would be better to be weary of strangers. It's more complicated than just eating the ideal foods.

Poor metabolism is what is inherited here. Genetics create a predisposition to certain manifestations of poor metabolism, but at the end of the day it's all the same underlying cause. And I'm not talking about strangers. I'm talking about situations where the person wants to engage socially, but does not have sufficient energy to do so.

 

[charlie]

post 107209 Poor metabolism is what is inherited here.

:1

 

[michael94]

post 107209

post 107208

post 107203
The internet is not the best place to go if you are looking for a friendly bunch... But if you are, I think you will generally find this forum much better than others. Also, he probably didnt mean to put you down he was just being direct with you. The benefit of the doubt is probably your best bet with someone you have never met who you cannot even look in the eye.

Yes, it was not my intention to be rude. I apologize for that. "Social anxiety" is not an isolated condition as we are conditioned to believe. It is indicative of a systematic issue in the metabolism that is manifesting as "social anxiety." Those with strong metabolisms typically are the most social and outspoken. So I think "social anxiety" is the body's way of saying, "I have a hierarchy of needs that need to be met first and I don't have the extra energy that socializing requires." So if caffeine is giving you a poor response, it seems to be indicative of poor liver health, as Haidut has mentioned from time to time. So I don't think "social anxiety" is necessarily a fear of people, but rather a protective mechanism that is communicating that there is healing that needs to be addressed. So if caffeine is exacerbating your anxiety symptoms, you may want to look at the big picture because your poor caffeine tolerance is reflective of your metabolic state, rather than dismissing caffeine as a substance that you don't tolerate.

I used to work with a girl who worked at Starbucks. I assumed she liked drinking coffee, but she told me she can't because it makes her tired. She was rude to customers and not very outgoing. She was fired after just a couple months because of her poor social skills. I've noticed this pattern where people who cannot tolerate coffee well also have poor social skills or are just more inhibited, so there seems to be some sort of relationship going on here. Meanwhile, my grandmother drinks 3 cups of coffee a day for many years, and is always in an excellent mood, and very outgoing and excited. She is on a cocktail of medications including antidepressants, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. and despite this constant assault, she has a great energy.

Nutrition definitely accounts for a large part of anxiety, but genetics does too.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11960082

Even if an organism is fully nourished there are environments where it would be better to be weary of strangers. It's more complicated than just eating the ideal foods.

Poor metabolism is what is inherited here. Genetics create a predisposition to certain manifestations of poor metabolism, but at the end of the day it's all the same underlying cause. And I'm not talking about strangers. I'm talking about situations where the person wants to engage socially, but does not have sufficient energy to do so.

Disagree entirely, if an organism is extremely k-type and focuses on fewer more important interactions in their lifetime they will instinctually be averse to constant exposure to strangers ( Note: strangers is a spectrum rather than either/or ) even if they have a healthy metabolism. Do humans have less healthy metabolisms than rodents? There are a lot of cases where poor nutrition explains not wanting to socialize, all I'm saying is it is not the whole picture of social anxiety at all.


Edit: I should phrase it like this: Poor nutrition ALWAYS makes one less sociable, but there's also a baseline of sociability that varies between people and is genetic/unrelated to diet.

 

[GreekDemiGod]

I too have SA, it's ruined my life.
With coffee, I find it's a fine line between heaven and hell. 2 cups / day at most and I'm ok, more than that and my anxiety gets worse.
Also, if I wake up tired, I'm better not drinking any coffee at all.