You bruise easily

If you’re one for drinking coffee, you’ll be familiar with irritability and jitters. Knocking into things around your house, or anywhere with hard surfaces, can often end in bruises - especially if you consume Joe like it’s going out of fashion. Caffeine interferes with the absorption of iron, setting you up for iron deficiency and possibly anaemia, which leaves your body prone to big, blotchy bruises.

You’re always tired

The sole reason people drink coffee, no matter how nice it may taste in its countless variations, is for the energy boost. So if you’re throwing back cup after cup and feeling even more tired, it can seem as if the world is playing a cruel trick on you. Coffee messes with your body’s absorption of thiamine, or vitamin B1, which can lead to fatigue. To make matters worse, this fatigue can usually be paired with the insomnia natural to caffeine usage.

Your eyes are heavy with pressure

When drinking coffee on the regular, you may experience some pretty bad intraocular pressure. This is because caffeine has a tendency to increase your blood pressure which in turn increases pressure in your eyes. If left unchecked, this can lead you at increased risk of glaucoma, or in the most severe cases even blindness.

Your skin is breaking out

Don’t expect your face or skin to be glowing when you’re drinking cup upon cup of coffee every day. Caffeine magnifies the body’s stress levels by boosting stress hormones, which is one of the top triggers of breakouts such as acne. It can also throw your body off balance, leading to stress and in turn, bad skin. If you’re prone to acne anyway, monitor your intake.

You’re always visiting the toilet


Coffee is a diuretic, meaning it can increase the need to go to the toilet in those who abuse it. While a nice cup of coffee does grant your body some water (good), it has the tendency to fill your bladder quickly (bad). If you find yourself constantly hitting the John, you may need to cut back on the Joe.

You experience hallucinations

Caffeine is a stimulant, so if you drink enough of it you can experience a kind of high similar to some drugs. Now obviously you have to drink a fair amount to get anywhere close to hallucinations, but such effects have been shown in people drinking over seven cups of coffee (or 300 mg of caffeine) a day. In rare cases, this degree of over-consumption has led to death due to convulsions.

You have heartburn

Don’t worry – given the nature of the beast, feeling heartburn or just general discomfort after drinking coffee is pretty normal. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t keep an eye on it. Coffee is highly acidic and to avoid this burning the ol’ heart, you should have just the one cup a day. Alternatively, you could drink your coffee with a non-fat or non-dairy milk to counteract some of the acidity, or take it black.

Your belly is getting bigger

We don’t usually associate coffee with weight gain. In fact, mild consumption of caffeine has been linked to weight loss in the past. But if you’re overstepping the mark, and swigging half a dozen cups a day or more, then you’re putting yourself at risk of developing a big belly. This is another one that could possibly be avoided by drinking your coffee black or switching to a non-fat milk alternative.

You’re sweating all the time

Sweating is a natural and normal bodily function that prevents us from overheating, particularly after doing exercise. When it becomes a concern is when you’re sweating having done nothing physical. If this is you, you might wanna cut down on your coffee intake, as caffeine has been known to interfere with your body’s magnesium absorption. When left untreated this can cause you to sweat uncontrollably, and nobody wants that.

You’re always thirsty

No matter what anyone says, you can have too much of a good thing, and coffee is no exception. Although you’re consuming water via most coffees, the truth is it can lead to dehydration if abused. Constant toilet trips can also rid your body of all the water you’ve put into it. Eventually, this will have an effect on your thirst, leaving you more parched than normal. Try substituting some of your usual cups for plain glasses of water instead.

You’re not sleeping

Everyone knows that coffee is a stimulant and that people often drink it to feel fully awake in the morning. Drinking coffee late in the evening can also keep you awake for a long time. If you are an avid coffee drinker and also deal with insomnia to some degree, consider whether you may be consuming too much coffee.

You’re always nervous

Because caffeine makes parts of your body move faster and increases your heart rate, it can also make you more jittery and nervous than usual. If you find yourself to have increased anxiety, try cutting back on your coffee intake to see if that makes a difference! You might find yourself a lot more relaxed.

You’re having digestive issues

Coffee has been used as a laxative or at least to help with bowel movements. While one cup a day can indeed help with digestion, having many can result in loose stool and other digestive issues. If you are facing this as a problem, a decrease in caffeine could be extremely helpful to you. Your body will thank you.

You’re dependent on it

While coffee is not classically addictive the way hard drugs are, it affects the brain in similar, if milder ways. This can cause the consumer to develop a heavy dependence on coffee and caffeine more specifically to the point where they struggle to function without it. This kind of dependence is directly linked to the amount of caffeine the person is consuming.

You have high blood pressure

If you consider yourself to be a fairly healthy person but your blood pressure is higher than it should be, take a good hard look at your coffee intake. Because coffee can increase one’s heart rate, it makes sense that your blood pressure would increase alongside that. Heightened blood pressure can put you at increased risk for strokes and heart disease, so get that caffeine level down!

You’re shaky

Because coffee can make you extra jittery, it can also cause you to have shaky hands. Depending on your profession, this could be an incredibly serious impact. If you’re a painter, for example, shaky hands are far from ideal! If you are experiencing shaky hands after you’ve had a fair few cups of coffee in a day, try and reel that number of cups back a bit.

You’re irritable

If you find yourself snapping at people and being particularly irritable but can’t think why, maybe look at your caffeine consumption. Where coffee can make you more anxious than usual, it can also cause your temper to shorten. This is due to the heightened stress levels you feel as a result of coffee being a stimulant. If you want to feel less irritable, bring down your coffee intake.

You feel sick a lot

There are so many things about coffee that can cause nausea when it is consumed in high quantities. Coffee has a high acidity level which can bother your stomach and the fact it dehydrates you doesn’t help either. If you’re going through life feeling nauseous, it could be to do with the fact that you’re drinking too much coffee.

Your muscles are cramping

Did you know that coffee actually negatively affects your body’s ability to absorb magnesium? Well, a single cup won’t do that, but consuming a lot of coffee can. A magnesium deficiency can easily result in cramping muscles. To get those magnesium levels up, you may have to lay off the coffee for a while.

Your teeth are sensitive

Coffee can erode the enamel on your teeth and can even make them darken or yellow faster if you drink a lot of it. This is because coffee is very acidic. Your tooth enamel does not fare well when exposed to acidity. Without your protective tooth enamel, the dark colour and caffeine in the coffee has a greater chance of staining your pearly whites.

You get withdrawal symptoms

If you want one way to know for certain whether you’re drinking too much coffee, try not drinking it for a day. How does it feel? If you are met with a noticeable increase in headaches, anxiety, or a lack of energy, those are likely withdrawal symptoms. To have withdrawal symptoms you must already have a heavy dependence on coffee.

Your stomach hurts

There’s something about a lot of acidity that really throws your whole body off! If you are experiencing stomach pains, this too could be down to you consuming too much coffee. Because of coffee’s acidity, it puts you at increased risk of stomach ulcers with can be incredibly painful. Consuming some mildly alkaline foods and cutting back on coffee could help with this.

Your skin has lost its glow

If you have a skincare routine and use moisturises regularly, you want it to actually do something to your skin. Drinking coffee is dehydrating due to is diuretic qualities. When your skin becomes dehydrated it can look dull in comparison to how it should look. If your skin isn’t reaching its potential, drink more water and less coffee.

Your body feels too fast

Yes, people drink coffee to be more stimulated and alert, but this can easily be taken too far. If you feel like your body if going too fast in some way, you have probably overestimated how much coffee you’re able to drink while still feeling sane. Try supplementing with water until you feel normal and don’t repeat this mistake.

You crash during the day

Caffeine will stimulate you and keep you alert for a while, but a lot like sugar, it won’t last. When drinking a lot of coffee, you’re likely to crash part way through the day after the high you get from caffeine. If you drink too much coffee on the regular, then you may have noticed this already.

You have a twitchy eye

Twitchy eyes are endlessly frustrating. One day your eyes are normal, the next you wake up with a twitch that just won’t settle. While there doesn’t have to be a reason for your twitchy eye, consuming high amounts of caffeine is in the top three causes for this reaction. This is because caffeine increases your nerve and muscle reactivity, causing the nerves and muscles around your eye to twitch.

Your mouth is always dry

People who really love their coffee tend to prioritise it over other beverages, including water. Because coffee is dehydrating, this has a particularly devastating effect. When your body is dehydrated, there is less water left for tasks like salivating that we tend to take for granted. If you’re drinking a lot of coffee, you may be experiencing dry mouth on a daily basis. If you cut back a cup or to a day and make sure to drink two litres of water a day, you should face this issue less.

You have a lot of headaches

The effects of coffee can combine into absolutely awful headaches. Since coffee dehydrates you, your brain does not have enough juice to keep functioning without friction. This, combined with the increased blood pressure coffee can lead to your head being in a lot of pain on the regular. There’s not a lot water won’t fix, so if you’re a regular coffee drinker with headaches, simply substitute your beverage of choice.

Breathing is harder

Are you finding simple tasks more exhausting and find yourself panting walking up a gentle incline? That could be down to all the coffee you’ve been drinking. Due to both decreased magnesium uptake and a less regular heartbeat both being more likely with higher coffee consumption, breathing can become more difficult and laboured.

You feel weak

Your energy and feeling of strength can depend on your electrolytes, magnesium levels, and your ability to build muscle. Because coffee is a diuretic it can cause any electrolytes you consume to pass straight through you without being absorbed which can cause you to feel weak in return. It can also prevent you from building muscle if consumed in very large quantities.

You’re losing weight

While we have covered the fact that a lot of coffee can lead to a bigger belly, but drinking a lot of coffee can actually lead to weight loss as well. Coffee can make your stomach a lot more sensitive which can also decrease your appetite. Combine that with the fact that coffee flushes everything through you and you’re losing weight in a very unhealthy way.

Your bones break easily

A large portion of people suffer from osteoporosis or weak and brittle bones. There are a lot of causes of osteoporosis outside of coffee, but coffee can contribute to weaker bones. Studies have found that there is a strong correlation between high consumption of coffee and osteoporosis which is particularly prevalent in older women.

Your blood sugar levels are off

Medical professionals take care to advise their diabetic patients to consume minimal to no coffee at all. This is because drinking a lot of coffee can mess with your blood sugar levels in serious ways. Some research states that a cup of coffee a day can reduce your risk of developing diabetes, but it can make things worse for those already suffering with the condition. What’s more, drinking significantly more than a cup can have the opposite effect.

You can feel your heartbeat increasing

You shouldn’t have to think about your heartbeat at all. It should just be something that happens entirely subconsciously. If you can feel the intensity of your heartbeat and feel the rate skyrocketing, then you have a problem. That problem could be entirely down to you drinking a lot of coffee. Coffee increases your heart rate and if you’re feeling the effects on the daily, you’re having too much of it.

You’re having pregnancy problems

Most doctors will recommend that pregnant people cut down on their coffee intake significantly, or even stop consuming it altogether. High caffeine levels can wreak havoc on a pregnancy. It leads to an increased risk of miscarriage as well as lower birth weight which comes with issues of its own. If you are a pregnant coffee drinker, consider stopping the coffee part of that.

You’re at risk of Parkinson’s

If you’ve been to your doctor and been told you have or might develop Parkinson’s disease, you’ve heard some of the worst things that can happen as a result of coffee consumption. Drinking a lot of coffee means you are risking an earlier diagnosis for Parkinson’s than most people. This is because of increased heart rate and blood pressure than have a hand in leading to the disease.

You can’t focus

Due to the increased stimulation people get from coffee, you may experience being a little bit frenzied or restless if you are a big coffee drinker. This restlessness is perhaps intentional for certain situations but it can also greatly affect your ability to focus on tasks at hand. If your focus feels affected and you also drink a lot of coffee, you probably know the cause.

You’re getting cysts

Many women are fairly sensitive to hormonal changes and coffee can affect these easily. For those who have PCOS or experience cysts in the ovaries or breasts already, caffeine can make matters worse. The number of cysts you acquire correlate strongly to your caffeine intake. In order to avoid even more cysts, avoiding coffee is a necessity.

You get bad menstrual cramps

Bad menstrual cramps can be caused by a great many different things, but coffee is one of those. This occurs partially due to caffeine’s dehydrating effects on the body. Being properly hydrated helps for a smoother and therefore less painful flow. The reduced magnesium in your body causing muscle cramps also applies to menstrual cramps. Reducing coffee intake on your period can help ease this pain.

You’re aging faster

It’s not that you actually are aging faster, but you’re struggling with your skin wrinkling easier and losing its shape. This happens as you age naturally, but drinking a lot of coffee can cause this to happen quicker. Coffee makes it more difficult for your body to produce collagen, leading to the breakdown of collagen in your skin being faster than its production. This leads to your face wrinkling faster and therefore looking older.