How to Stop Caffeine Jitters Fast (and What Doesn't Work)

Key takeaways

• The single most useful step is to stop adding caffeine, including tea, cola, energy drinks, pre-workout and some medicines.
• Caffeine peaks in the blood within about an hour, and you may feel it for 4 to 6 hours, so jitters fade over hours, not minutes.
• Your liver breaks down almost all caffeine at its own pace; no study we found shows water or a meal speeding that up, and exercise studies disagree.
• Chest pain, fainting, trouble breathing, confusion or a racing or irregular heartbeat that does not settle need medical help right away.

What to do about caffeine jitters in the next 10 minutes

Jitters are your body reacting to more caffeine than it is comfortable with right now. There is no antidote you can take at home, so the goal is simple: stop the level rising, make yourself comfortable, and let time do the clearing.

These steps will not remove caffeine, but none of them adds to the problem:

• Stop all caffeine now. The FDA notes that caffeine also turns up in energy bars, chewing gum, dietary supplements and some over-the-counter medicines, so check what else you've had today.
• Eat a normal snack or meal if your stomach is empty and you feel shaky. It won't pull caffeine back out, but you will not be adding hunger on top of the jitters.
• Drink water if you're thirsty. It is fine to sip, just don't expect it to wash caffeine away.
• Sit or lie down somewhere quiet and breathe slowly, with a longer out-breath than in-breath. If you want a guided version, calmness.today has a free 4:6 breathing reset.
• Skip a hard workout meant to burn it off, and avoid nicotine and alcohol: the NHS lists strenuous exercise, alcohol and nicotine, as well as caffeine, among common causes of heart palpitations.

How long caffeine jitters last after a strong coffee

According to MedlinePlus, blood levels top out within an hour of a caffeinated drink, and the effects can stay noticeable for 4 to 6 hours. So if your coffee was 30 to 60 minutes ago, your blood level is probably near its peak, and from there it only falls.

How fast the level falls depends on your half-life, the time your body takes to clear half of the caffeine. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) puts the average at about 4 hours in healthy adults, with a range of 2 to 8 hours. A small study in 16 healthy men found half-lives from about 2.3 to 9.9 hours, so two people with the same drink can feel it for very different lengths of time.

The table below shows the simple arithmetic for a 200 mg dose, about the average 16-fl oz brewed coffee (188 mg) in one US lab test of coffee-shop drinks. It assumes the dose is fully absorbed at the start, so treat it as a rough guide. The calculator above lets you enter your own drink and time.

Why too much caffeine makes you jittery and on edge

Caffeine works mainly by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain. Adenosine is a natural sleep-regulating signal, so blocking it reduces sleepiness, and researchers describe caffeine as a mild stimulant that sometimes raises anxiety through the same receptors. MedlinePlus lists restlessness and shakiness, a fast heart rate and anxiety among the effects of too much caffeine.

The dose matters a lot. In a controlled study of 102 healthy adults who normally had less than 300 mg of caffeine a week, 50 mg did not raise anxiety ratings, while 450 mg raised anxiety in most people. That's why one extra shot or a large energy drink can be the difference between alert and wired.

People also differ. The FDA notes wide variation in how sensitive people are to caffeine and how fast they clear it, and a trial of 379 adults found that people who use caffeine often develop substantial tolerance to its anxiety effect. If you rarely drink caffeine, the same cup will usually hit you harder. Our guide to why coffee makes you anxious goes into the reasons in more detail.

Caffeine jitter remedies checked: water, exercise, food and supplements

Most quick-fix advice online assumes you can speed caffeine out of your body. The evidence doesn't back that up. Absorption from the gut is fast and essentially complete, and one liver enzyme, CYP1A2, breaks down about 95% of the caffeine you swallow. We found no study showing that extra water or food makes caffeine wear off faster. Exercise studies are small and disagree: in one, light exercise shortened caffeine's half-life but also raised the peak blood level; in another, 90 minutes of cycling made no difference.

Water is still fine to drink. A trial in 50 regular male coffee drinkers found that about four cups of coffee a day hydrated them as well as the same amount of water, so jitters are not usually a sign of dehydration that water will fix. For the full myth check, see can you flush caffeine out of your system.

Signs that caffeine jitters need urgent medical care

Some symptoms are not something to wait out at home. MedlinePlus says anyone with signs of a caffeine overdose should seek medical help right away. The NHS says to call emergency services if heart palpitations do not go away or come with chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling faint or fainting.

• Chest pain, shortness of breath or trouble breathing.
• Feeling faint or fainting.
• A rapid or irregular heartbeat that does not settle.
• Confusion, hallucinations, seizures, vomiting or fever.
• You took caffeine pills, powder or energy shots, or you are not sure how much you had. The FDA estimates that toxic effects such as seizures can occur with rapid intake of around 1,200 mg.

How to avoid caffeine jitters next time

Jitters often come from more caffeine than you thought, taken faster than you're used to. Coffee varies more than most people expect: lab tests of coffee-shop coffees found 58 to 259 mg per serving, and the same drink from the same shop ranged from 259 to 564 mg over six days. FDA figures put a 12-fl oz brewed coffee at 113 to 247 mg and an energy drink at 41 to 246 mg.

A few habits help keep you below your jitter point:

• Check the real numbers for what you drink, for example brewed coffee, espresso or Red Bull.
• Choose a smaller size, a single shot or tea when you know you are sensitive, and avoid stacking several caffeinated drinks close together.
• If you want to cut down overall, the FDA advises doing it gradually to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
• If small amounts reliably make you feel unwell, read our guide to caffeine sensitivity and mention it to your doctor or pharmacist, especially if you take regular medicines.

Common questions