Tea Addiction - Treatment, Symptoms and Causes

Apart from water, people from all over the world consume tea more than any other beverage. Drinking tea regularly does provide you with various health benefits, as long as you keep it within reason. The problem is that tea contains caffeine which normally makes you feel alert, active, and buoyant. The problem though is that tea drinkers often become addicted to the substance without even realizing that they are addicted to tea. Things get to a point where they just cannot go through a whole day without drinking a single cup of tea be it green, black or any other variant.

This is a sure sign of tea addiction and prolonged exposure to large amounts of caffeine in one’s body can impact the overall health of the body and may even help trigger heart attacks. If the above passage sounds familiar then you need to consult a counsellor right away and seek help to wean you away from tea for good. You must be able to limit yourself to just a cup or two a day; any more, then chances are that you are a full-blown tea addict. Just check online for tea addiction, that should help list organizations which can help you with the same.

While there is no clear reason or causative factor that can cause a person to become addicted to tea while others do not – the fact remains that some do get addicted to tea to the point of drinking excess of the same. A recent study clearly showed that caffeine (contained in tea) is easily absorbed by the body, affecting the brain directly. While caffeine on its own is not considered to be a stimulant, it nevertheless blocks certain receptors in our brain, which can lead to the brain releasing extra amounts of dopamine and endorphins. It is only a matter of time before tea drinkers identify with this 'feel good” feeling and crave more of the same, thereby resulting in tea addiction.

It is vital that you seek help or treatment for the same, to enable you to quit tea for good. Quitting cold is not advisable since that can cause you to experience some withdrawal symptoms.

Some of the symptoms associated with tea addiction happen to be –

• Drinking surplus tea every hour
• Being unable to go a few hours without a cuppa
• Sudden mood changes on being unable to drink tea
• Irritability on not being able to drink tea
• Being depressed or withdrawn on not getting any tea,

These are some of the symptoms associated with tea addiction. If you or your loved ones feel the above sound familiar, then you need to seek help right away before your tea addiction can have a harmful effect on your body and your health.

Usually it is advisable to consult a therapist or counsellor, prior to quitting tea. Quitting cold may sound like a good idea, but you would still need all the help you can get to help combat some of those symptoms. This is why it is better to seek treatment for this addiction rather than going cold turkey, all on your own. Your therapist would advise you to quit in stages, undertake physical and fitness exercises, undergo detoxification as well as to reach out to others. If you do think that you spot all the signs of tea addiction in your loved one, then you may need to do an intervention and make them realize the extent of their problem and push them to opt for treatment before it is too late. Apart from treatment, there are various substances that you can use, to help you wean away from tea.

Apart from making sure that there are no tea sachets in your home, there is no other way to prevent tea addiction. You can opt for decaffeinated drinks, and thereby avoid reeling under the side effects of tea addiction. You can also physically limit yourself to just a cup or two per day, and no more than that. This too should help prevent any caffeine addiction.

Apart from making sure that there are no tea sachets in your home, there is no other way to prevent tea addiction. You can opt for decaffeinated drinks, and thereby avoid reeling under the side effects of tea addiction. You can also physically limit yourself to just a cup or two per day, and no more than that. This too should help prevent any caffeine addiction.

Some of the symptoms associated with tea addiction happen to be –

• Sleeplessness or insomnia; you may experience bouts of insomnia as a result of quitting tea
• Fatigue; you may experience prolonged bouts of feeling extremely tired for no reason at all. The main cause for this fatigue is quitting tea, these withdrawal symptoms are temporary and should pass away after a while.
• Irritability; the need to snap at everyone and everything just because you have not had your morning cup
• Constipation
• Muscle pain; at times you may experience muscular pain as you quit tea
• Depression; you are bound to be depressed for a while as a result of quitting drinking tea. As mentioned earlier, all these withdrawal symptoms are only temporary and should pass away after a while.