Caffeine is a psychoactive drug found in coffee, tea, chocolate, cola and energy drinks. The caffeine in these foods and drinks can have some positive effects. For example helping a person to stay awake or giving them a little energy boost so that they can continue on with their import work they are in the middle of doing. Even with good points it does have it’s bad; one of the most common is addiction but for anxiety sufferers it’s got more of a bad place than that.

Caffeine can have negative effects on anxiety disorders. According to a 2011 literature review, caffeine use is positively associated with anxiety and panic disorders. At high doses, typically greater than 300 mg, caffeine can both cause and worsen anxiety. For some people, discontinuing caffeine use can significantly reduce anxiety.

Quote from Wikipedia

While we know and have seen studies on caffeine and its effects on anxiety disorders we often find that it can be a crutch for sufferers that just want to stay awake through the exhaustion effects of anxiety disorders and get on with their current lives. But conversely the same drug that helps with that could be making it worse. Caffeine is known to cause insomnia in some cases increasing the body’s need for sleep.

So what is the solution?

The solution for many is to moderate caffeine intake and in some cases trickle down the caffeine intake until it’s zero. In fact if you find that caffeine affects your anxiety then that is what No Panic recommends you to start doing.