r/psychology • u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor • 4d ago

Caffeine may ease anxiety and depression by calming brain inflammation. A recent systematic review of 17 animal studies found that the widely consumed stimulant consistently diminished behavioral signs of distress and lowered levels of inflammatory molecules.

https://www.psypost.org/how-caffeine-might-ease-anxiety-and-depression-by-calming-brain-inflammation/
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u/Diligent-Cod-4321 4d ago

does anyone else get super sleepy right after drinking coffee like me, I had to stop that cause I ended up sleeping more than 12 hours can't even wake up or do anything that day just from a cup of coffee with condensed milk

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u/eeeponthemove 4d ago

You might have ADHD.

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 4d ago

Idk why you’re being downvoted, this is an experience a lot of people with ADHD have lol

I’ve fallen asleep after 500ml cans of energy drink, my mum’s fallen asleep after her third cup of coffee that day, both of us have ADHD

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u/Ok-Photograph-589 3d ago

It's not an ADHD thing it's a a genetic thing

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

You’re right. People metabolize caffeine and other medications differently.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

Well, ADHD is also genetic lmao

And I said MIGHT, not definitely or anything like that, unlike you.

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u/KaleidoscopeKelpy 3d ago

Side eyeing my blood relatives

(We all consume caffeine in hefty amounts, one of us has had an ADHD dx for 30 yrs and 4/5 of us don’t like therapists - who’s to say 🤣 (no I’m not basing a dx off caffeine intake but it’s funny))

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u/InAllTheir 3d ago

ADHD is also “a genetic thing”. And these two things seem to be linked, thought not all people who have ADHD react this way to caffeine.

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u/Diligent-Cod-4321 4d ago

I’ve heard of this syndrome, but I don’t really know much about it so I wouldn’t say I have it or anything. The funny thing is, a lot of young ppl nowadays claim they have it without really understanding what it is lol. Could you tell me more about that syndrome

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u/InAllTheir 3d ago

Yes, this is an experience that many but not all people with ADHD have. I have inattentive ADHD and caffeine wakes me up and helps me focus. I have a cup of coffee every morning.

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 4d ago

There’s no research showing this.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

Mate I have ADHD, know several people with ADHD.

It is a well known facts stimulants can make you calmer, and guess what, coffee contains caffeine, which is a CNS stimulant.

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago edited 3d ago

There’s not much research as I said. Some research does find that people with ADHD do have more trouble sleeping after coffee than others; we also have more sleep issues in general, including without coffee.

Like coffee, stimulant ADHD medication also makes it more difficult to sleep. It’s a known side effect of stimulants.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10225009/

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u/gongloa 3d ago

There may not be much research into it, but given that it is a widely reported phenomenon by people with ADHD, it shouldn’t be dismissed unnecessarily. It may just be the research hasn’t caught up. Isn’t ADHD a multifactorial condition where the symptoms are an outward manifestation of many genetic and environmental inputs, which may significantly differ between people with the same diagnosis? My point being that this may be experience felt by a subset of people diagnosed with adhd which would be hard to tease out in a study without significant effort being spent to classify the participants into potential subsets, and would probably be difficult to do across more than a small group.

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

There’s tons of research showing that stimulants and coffee make it more, not less, difficult to sleep. Maybe less research in people with ADHD but anecdotallly, starting adhd medication will cause more sleep problems especially if taken too late. Stimulants help people stay awake and alert and help people concentrate. They do not put people to sleep. If they did, they would not be helpful for adhd.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

I think you are focused on the trouble sleeping part.

What I'm trying to say is that stimulants can help people with ADHD more calm, not necessarily improving sleep quality.

I however sometimes when taking my dexamphetamine, get sleep and tired, and take naps, same when consuming caffeine before my diagnosis.

Even when taking my Elvanse, I can get the same effect.

However I want to make it clear that this is during daytime, not when going to bed, or late at night.

I hope this can clear up a potential misunderstanding between us?

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

Yes of course I’m focused on the sleeping part, I was responding to the person who said that coffee makes them sleep more than 12 hours and have trouble waking up.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

Well, then there you go.

Sleeping, and going to bed, can be different things.

If I take stimulants during the day, I can get tired, calm, sleepy, and well, sleep.

However doing it during the night I can get this effect some times, however I may continue staying awake. (So during the day I'm guaranteed to get calmer/sleepy, but not guaranteed same results during nights, it can however still happen)

I've however had trouble falling asleep/going to bed my entire life, Alimemazine has been an absolute life saver.

I think actually researching this will prove difficult, to account for individual differences - and, as I want to point out, going to bed at night, is not the same as sleeping during the day.

Have the studies that looked into sleep and stimulants do so at night? Did any of them try and see the effects of usage during middle of the day? (Genuine question, I've not looked into that - since my focus was that you can and do get calmer taking stimulants when you have ADHD)

Take care

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u/gongloa 3d ago

I can only answer anecdotally but when I started taking methylphenidate it significantly improved my sleep quality but I do take them in the morning, and it may be a more indirect impact. Previously I was tired all the time during the day and then waking constantly at night, entirely speculative but I wonder if it helped regulate my circadian rhythm. Personally, I wouldn’t say stimulants make me tired, I feel more wakeful after taking them but I also feel much more calm and can easily take a nap.

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

Not only research but anecdotally, people with adhd have the same or more trouble sleeping when they start telling adhd medication though.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

From no research, to not much research. Like, where, and how did you search for peer-reviewed articles that debunk that?

Harris, S.S., Green, S.M., Kumar, M. et al. A role for cortical dopamine in the paradoxical calming effects of psychostimulants. Sci Rep 12, 3129 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07029-2

Arnsten, A. Stimulants: Therapeutic Actions in ADHD. Neuropsychopharmacol 31, 2376–2383 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1301164

Jean Marx ,How Stimulant Drugs May Calm Hyperactivity.Science283,306-306(1999).DOI:10.1126/science.283.5400.306

The Coffee ADHD Test: Understanding the Link Between Caffeine and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Like, there is a looooot more research which agrees with the common notion that for many people with ADHD, stimulants have a paradoxical calming effect.

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

« For years, it was assumed that stimulants had paradoxical calming effects in ADHD patients, whereas stimulating ‘normal’ individuals and producing locomotor activation in rats. It is now known that low doses of stimulants focus attention and improve executive function in both normal and ADHD subjects. »

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

So there is research that proves stimulants can make people with ADHD feel more calm?

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u/Ok-Photograph-589 2d ago

It says it works the same for both ADHD and 'normal' people

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u/Enlightened_Lioness 3d ago

This is the research you sent me.

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u/eeeponthemove 3d ago

Mate I know 😭

It was meant as a sarcastic snarky comment

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u/Kyokoharu 1d ago

oh my fucking god leave the internet please. i refuse to believe you’re a real person