Addiction

How do you classify an addiction? Is it when you need coffee to wake up in the
morning? Or when you need it multiple times a day? Or maybe, like this clip, when you have an espresso machine hidden under your bed.

I knew I was addicted when I started setting my coffee pot every night to automatically begin brewing in the morning. So that while I was getting ready I could sip on my fresh pot of hot coffee. Without those few cups in the morning, my attention span in classes would be shorter, I would feel drowsy quicker and I would suffer from headaches. According to a study done at John Hopkins University (in a Seattle Times Article), as little as one cup of coffee a day can cause a caffeine addiction. However, the study also states the average caffeine drinker consumers approximately 3.4 cups of coffee a day.

New fact: A cup(8oz) of coffee contains 60-120 mg of caffeine while a 12 oz Pepsi has 38mg. So technically a person who has 2 Pepsi's a day can suffer from the same caffeine addiction that coffee drinkers do. Well then why do we not see warnings about Pepsi addictions? Well I think the answer is fairly obvious...coffee drinkers on AVERAGE DRINK 3.4 CUPS OF COFFEE A DAY which equals between 204-408 mg a day. WAY WAY WAY above the 38 or even 76 mg of caffeine you would find in 2 Pepsi's. (About.com)

So to recap...one cup of coffee can create a caffeine addiction. However, average coffee drinkers consumer more than 3 times that amount.

CONCLUSION: I do not see an end in sight for coffee drinkers weening off coffee if all it takes to have an addiction is about 8oz of that amazing hot black liquid, which removes my headaches and keeps me alert. After all, I would rather believe the MD's advice that a few cups of coffee have long term health benefits. That will ease my pain of knowing that I may have an addiction...