How Does Coffee Suppress the Adrenal Glands?

Adrenal glands are in charge of regulating hormones to help your body deal with different types of stress. Though the glands are designed to carefully control adrenal levels, certain substances can disrupt this balance. Caffeinated coffee affects adrenal levels dramatically.

Coffee

• Caffeinated coffee causes neurons in the brain to send signals to your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that encourages the adrenal glands to release adrenaline into your bloodstream.

Adrenaline

• Adrenaline puts your body in a "flight or fight" mode, which gives you the energy and strength to deal with a threatening situation. However, coffee produces this effect artificially, causing that excess energy to go unused.

Withdrawal

• Once the adrenaline wears off, fatigue, irritability, headache and confusion can set in. This causes cravings for more caffeine, which releases more adrenaline, keeping your body in a constant state of stress.

Exhaustion

• Months or years of continued stress will exhaust your adrenal glands. Adrenal insufficiency is characterized by low adrenal levels, which cause fatigue, low blood pressure, weakness, lack of concentration, depression, insomnia, anxiety and cravings for salt and sugar.

Summary

• Caffeinated coffee does not immediately suppress the adrenal glands. In contrast, it greatly stimulates them. However, over time, coffee can lead to adrenal insufficiency, which results in extremely low adrenal levels and symptoms that affect daily life.