Triple Lattes for Me and My Giant Two-Headed Space Weasel

If you're one of those who feels that neither you nor the horde of leprechauns that follow you around just aren't right with the world before your seventh cup of coffee, you better put the mug down and read this.

Psychologists at the University of Durham have determined that consumption of high levels of caffeine increase the likelihood of experiencing hallucinations.

At caffeine intake levels equivalent to seven cups of joe, one is three times more likely to imagine having heard voices or other auditory hallucination. The risk for experiencing visual hallucinations as well as auditory increases as well, though by a lesser degree.

The culprit, according to researchers appears to be the stress hormone cortisol, produced by the body when we feel anxiety. Those jittery, caffeine nerves are an actual phenomenon!

Too much caffeine puts a person in a heightened state of anxiety, and causes cortisol to be released into the system. It is believed that cortisol plays a role in the generation or enhancement of psychotic events through altering the balance of key neurotransmitters in the brain's limbic region.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.