Caffeine is the world’s most popular psychoactive substance. It is widely consumed by individuals of all ages, as it is also the only psychoactive substance in the world that is completely unregulated. Caffeine appears nearly everywhere in today’s society from soft drinks to coffee and even granola bars. Caffeine is a common substance for nearly every American as it makes waking up and getting through the day just a little bit easier with the burst of energy caffeine provides. However, another realm of users has recently developed, bodybuilders. In recent years, bodybuilders have began using caffeine to give them a certain edge in their workouts. Caffeine is mostly taken in pill form for bodybuilders as it is important for them not to consume the extra calories or sugars that foods and drinks with caffeine in them often contain.
Caffeine provides numerous benefits to bodybuilders by giving them extra energy during workouts, having them feel more awake, and to boost their metabolism. Caffeine also has very few side effects when compared to other, illegal drugs that provide the save psychoactive effects.
while moderate caffeine use won’t harm any individual or a bodybuilder, there are some risks associated with overuse of caffeine, especially by those who use the substance regularly over an extended period of time. Overuse of caffeine can cause gastric reflux, gas, ulcers, headaches, anxiety and high blood pressure. However, this is not the case with every user. There is also great risk for individuals who combine caffeine with other substances to help shed body fat. Many athletes combine caffeine with aspirin and ephedra which can cause the aforementioned symptoms to become even more serious. However, there is only minimal longterm research that has been done to truly measure the effects of caffeine on the body.
Although taking caffeine isn’t life threatening, the comfort that many bodybuilders have with the drug is growing, and individuals using caffeine as part of their daily diet regimen should be aware of the possible side effects, especially those who mix caffeine with other symptoms. Any individual deciding to take a drug, even one as common as caffeine should first look into the possible side effects before proceeding.
However it should be noted that while excessive caffeine consumption is never encouraged the recent popularity with the stimulant has caused a decrease in bodybuilders and athletes using other illegal and much more dangerous stimulant drugs. So while caffeine can cause many negative effects to users, it could possibly be a lesser of two evils until more research on the effects of caffeine come out.

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