Is Your Caffeine Addiction for Real?

If you thought you were addicted to coffee, think again. Often people who consume too much coffee, energy drinks, carbonated beverages and other substances containing caffeine compare their “addiction” to that of a .

But are the two the same? Apparently not. “The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no evidence that caffeine has even remotely comparable physical or social consequences as those of serious ,” says Herbert Muncie, M.D. and professor of family medicine at Louisiana State University.

An addiction to caffeine can more likely be compared to an addiction one has to running, or other enjoyed activities such as watching television. It is not the same as an addiction that leads to compulsive and irrational behaviors such as those caused by .