If you often feel dizzy after coffee in the morning it might be your favorite beverage that’s causing the problem. The stimulant effect of caffeine is a welcome side effect of drinking the hot beverage that allows many of us to get through our morning. That’s hard to give up, but it’s the other side effects of caffeinated beverages such as the potential for dizziness that we can do without. Changing some of our other habits as we drink our morning coffee can help.
Proper Hydration
Coffee is a mild diuretic and that means you have to go to the bathroom more frequently when you drink it. While there’s no consensus, some believe this can lead to dehydration as your body loses water quicker when drinking coffee. So if you’ve ever said to yourself coffee makes me dizzy and light-headed, try drinking a glass of water before and after your morning coffee – that will ensure you remain hydrated.
Dehydration is a potential cause of dizziness so remaining fully hydrated is important. As we become dehydrated our blood volume decreases and that means there is less blood available to travel where our body needs it such as the head. When we don’t get enough blood to the brain that’s when we experience that light-headed feeling or dizziness and it’s not the best way to start the day.
Fill that Stomach
Making sure your belly is full when you drink coffee can also help to prevent dizziness. Some of the water we take in on a daily basis comes from the foods we eat, so eating at regular intervals will help to keep us hydrated. That means more blood pumping through the system and less potential for dizziness from drinking coffee.
Drink Moderate Amounts of Coffee to Avoid Dizziness
Like anything else, drinking coffee in moderation is a good idea. According to the Mayo Clinic, we should restrict our caffeine intake to no more than 400 mg per day. That equals about 4 cups of coffee in a 24 hour period – any more than that and you may experience a caffeine overdose. Can coffee cause dizziness? If you overdose it will, symptoms of an overdose can include twitchiness, diarrhea, and dizziness. Keeping consumption at 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day will reduce the possibility of experiencing these issues.
It’s important to keep in mind that people will have different tolerances to caffeine. There are people who can drink 4 or 5 cups a day with no ill effects, but others will experience queasiness and dizziness after just 1 cup. The best solution is to cut back on your coffee each day until you stop experiencing negative symptoms.
How Exercise Can Help
One other thing that can help if you feel dizzy after the coffee is exercise. During physical activity, we use adrenaline to push us forward. One of the reasons we feel dizzy after drinking coffee is because it causes stress to our system and boosts adrenaline levels. When we use adrenaline for exercise it can relieve us of that dizzy feeling and make us healthier at the same time.