Buzz
If you’ve had a bit too much coffee and now you feel like you’re buzzing, don’t worry. The jitters will pass, but here's how to make it through the uncomfortable experience.
Grab a snack
While food may not directly calm the shakes, eating something can help prevent the situation from escalating further.
After you drink coffee, it travels to your stomach initially, but it isn't fully absorbed until it makes its way into your intestines. If you consume caffeine on an empty stomach, this journey happens quickly. However, if you have it alongside food, the combination of food and caffeine will take a bit longer to leave the stomach as the food undergoes its early stages of digestion.
If you've just consumed caffeine on an empty stomach, it's a good idea to have breakfast or an early lunch to help balance it out.
Stop searching online and simply wait for the effects to pass.
There are countless tips circulating on how to reduce caffeine jitters, but most of them are ineffective. Drinking water won't help, and neither will eating bananas. Vegetables or vitamins won’t be digested quickly enough to make any immediate impact, even though they could potentially assist in theory.
Once the jitters hit, your main issue is that your bloodstream is overloaded with caffeine. Your liver is processing it as quickly as possible, and all you can do is be patient and let it run its course.
How long will it take for the caffeine to leave your body? That depends on how much you consumed. Roughly five hours later, half of the caffeine will be gone. (This holds true no matter the amount, and it's a statistic known as the half-life of a drug.) So, if you drank two grande coffees first thing in the morning, by the afternoon, you’ll only feel the effects of one of them.
Get moving with some exercise.
Although you can't instantly eliminate the caffeine, you can still make the most of it while it's in your system. If you have time for a workout, now’s the moment to put on your running shoes or head to the gym. Exercise will keep your mind off the jitters, and the caffeine might even enhance your performance, allowing you to run faster or lift more weight.
If you're stuck at your desk, try to stay active. Now's a perfect time to go for a walk, visit a colleague on another floor (and take the stairs), or just pace around the office while thinking of brilliant solutions to the various challenges (aside from caffeine overload) that are on your mind.
