Caffeine Effects: Too Much Coffee Can Cause Hallucinations

Feb 14, 2012
Melissa Ridenour

Effects of Caffeine - Julian Cenkier

New research from La Trobe University has determined that too much coffee consumption can causes heavy coffee drinkers to experience hallucinations.

Carly Simon musically stated, “ I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee.” Would Ms Simon be surprised to learn that actually coffee can cause clouds in reality? “According to Sylvia Anderson’s article, “Going Loco? Too Much Coffee Can Cause Hallucinations Among Heavy Drinkers”, research conducted at La Trobe University by Professor Simon Crowe determined that consuming five cups of coffee a day was classified as heavy drinking. The research also determined that consuming that much caffeine could contribute to hallucinatory experiences.

What are Hallucinations?

The word hallucination comes from Latin and means "to wander mentally." Hallucinations are false perceptions that individuals can have that don’t really exist in reality. Hallucinatory experiences may involve individuals hearing, seeing or smelling things that are not there.

Hallucinations are usually associated with mental illness, but now it has been determined that heavy coffee consumption can contribute to hallucinatory experiences as well.

How Can Heavy Coffee Consumption Cause Hallucinations?

The article, “Too Much Coffee Causes Hallucinations”, reports that Simon Crowe and his colleagues from the School of Psychological Sciences at La Trobe University measured the effect of caffeine and stress with 92 non-clinical participants. The participants were assigned to either high or low stress or either high caffeine or low caffeine conditions, based upon participants’ self-reports. The participants were then asked to listen to white noise. White noise is created by combining sounds of all different frequencies together. The participants were then expected to report each time they heard the song, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby.

“White Christmas” was never actually played for any of the participants. The research results indicated that the interaction of stress and caffeine had a notable effect on the reported frequency of participants hearing "White Christmas."

Those participants who had high levels of stress or who consumed significantly high levels of caffeine were more likely to hear the song. Summarizing, Crowe stated, "The combination of caffeine and stress affect the likelihood of an individual experiencing a psychosis-like symptom,"

In conclusion, it would appear, according to the article, “Caffeine Can Cause Hallucinations”, caffeine consumption, in moderation, can increase the capacity for mental or physical labor, but when used in excess, it can be intoxicating, can contribute to nervousness, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, headaches, heart palpitations, and, as new research indicates, hallucinations as well.