For so many people, cigarettes go hand-in-hand with coffee. And yet they have no idea what happens inside the body every time they start mixing them up.

• Both increase heart rate and speed up other bodily functions.
• Both cause temporary mood altering behaviours.
• Both easily become habit-forming at a psychological and physical level.
• Both have the possibility of overdose.
• Both belong to the stimulant family of drugs.
• Both increase heart rate and speed up other bodily functions.
• But only nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it tightens the blood vessels thus increasing blood pressure.
• They interact with each other in that nicotine has an effect on caffeine absorption. Smokers metabolise caffeine twice as fast as a non-smoker.

You can quit smoking and still have coffee!

So, what does this mean? It means that a smoker has to drink twice as much coffee as a non-smoker to absorb the same amount of caffeine.

 "Why should I care?" you may ask? Well there's a couple of reasons, cigarettes and coffee are both chemicals that increase blood flow, while one of them is restricting your arteries... that doesn't seem like a good idea.

But, thats not so much the direction I'm writing this post in...

There will come a day, when you decide to end the smoking habit.. and that is the day this information will be useful to you.

 When a smoker no longer has nicotine coursing through their veins, their body is suddenly in a position where it is getting ALL the side-effects of caffeine suddenly.

 You might wake up early in the morning, throw down your usual amount of joe... then shortly after start feeling shaky and jittery (due to the  new caffeine overload) but if you didn't know it's the caffeine overload, your first assumption might be that a cigarette craving is making you feel 'on edge'... so perhaps you mistakenly drink even MORE coffee, and get even shakier, thus feeling as though the cigarette cravings are getting worse... until eventually you might cave to the mistaken crave. But that doesn't have to happen! What's really happening is simply just a caffeine overload. So now you now. And as G.I. Joe says "Knowing is half the battle!"

 Okay, so long story short, when you stop smoking (and you will), it's probably a good idea to reduce your caffeine intake for a couple weeks, maybe switch over to a half-caff beverage. Or at least space out those coffees with a glass of water.

 You'll find the transition to a smoke-free life so much smoother....