When life gets rough (so like every morning when you wake up before you’re ready to) the average American will turn to a good old cup of joe to get them going. Actually, most of the word will turn to some form of hot caffeinated beverage in the morning, for example: expresso in Italy and café au lait in France. Some people even hit the caffeine again to get them through their two o’clock slump in the form of soda, tea, or coffee. And let’s not forget the college students who use coffee and red bulls to pull those “all-nighters” come midterms and finals.

We consciously make the choice to coffee up in the that morning, but there are so many ways we consume caffeine without even knowing, like that soda or ice team with lunch, or that dessert coffee you have after dinner. But in a world full of caffeinated options, the real question is, when does some caffeine become too much? The answer is a hard one to hear because it’s not what most of us want to listen to.

Caffeine is one of the most addicting substances out there. Do you ever get the inexplicable headache of the blue that can magically be fixed with your favorite caffeinated beverage? Well heads up! That’s a withdraw symptom. And what makes it worse is that the companies that market super caffeinated beverages know how to play to their audiences. Why do you think soda is so sugary and put in such bright packages? Because they attract the attention of little kids. I know that’s what got me hooked. I grew up drinking cola, but once I turned twelve, I discovered Mountain Dew, and when I was sixteen I acquired the taste for coffee and it was all downhill from there.

Now my day is full of caffeine, from coffee in the morning to a Dew at lunch to another Dew at dinner and coffee as I study. It doesn’t really affect me anymore; I can drink whatever I want right before bed and fall asleep within five minutes. But every time I think I’m immune to the stuff, I get that infamous headache and start all over. It’s a never ending cycle that I’m sure I’m not alone in experiencing, yet I’m also positive that I’m not the only one who knows it’s happening and lets it go on anyway. In a world where the average adult woks sixty hours a week and gets five hours of sleep a night, I totally understand why people let it go.