ADHD and caffeine

If you have ADHD, your brain craves stimulation in order to focus. Caffeine is a stimulant that boosts alertness and attention. 

Based on those facts — and the way you feel every day after downing some coffee — you might wonder if caffeine could help you manage your ADHD symptoms. But the relationship between caffeine and ADHD isn’t that simple. 

There’s no doubt that caffeine can temporarily improve attention, alertness, and reaction time.¹ It’s just not clear if, or how, it can directly help with ADHD, or how people might effectively use it as a treatment.

One reason for ADHD focus problems is that the brain’s dopamine system doesn’t function as well as it should. Dopamine, the “feel good” hormone and neurotransmitter, is involved in attention, motivation, and reward. It helps people focus on tasks that are important but not very exciting. 

Caffeine stimulates the nervous system and increases dopamine levels, which can make you feel more alert and better able to focus. In that way, it may seem to reduce some inattentive symptoms.

But there’s no solid information on caffeine and ADHD. Research is limited, especially in adults, and the results are mixed.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant, found in coffee beans, tea leaves, kola nuts, and many other sources. It can temporarily help people feel more awake and pay better attention. Taken in moderation — up to 400 mg, or three to four cups of coffee per day — it’s safe for most people to use.

Caffeine mainly works by blocking cells that use a brain chemical called adenosine. Adenosine builds up in your brain when you’re awake. When there’s a lot of it, you start to feel sleepy. When you have caffeine, it blocks these cells from making you feel tired.

Caffeine also helps by stopping cells from cleaning up dopamine between brain cells, which leaves more dopamine available. This is similar to how some ADHD stimulant medicines work. But as a stimulant, caffeine isn’t the same as these prescription medications, which address the problems in the dopamine system that happen with ADHD.

Caffeine is generally not recommended as a regular treatment for ADHD. It’s especially not recommended as the primary treatment for ADHD.

There are a few reasons for this. Stimulant ADHD medications work directly on the brain chemicals that help with focus and impulse control. Caffeine, on the other hand, doesn’t work as precisely in these areas. This may explain why caffeine research is so mixed. 

Another problem with using caffeine for ADHD is a lack of knowledge or data. Researchers only partly understand how caffeine affects dopamine. And they don’t know what amount of caffeine is safe to consume or how much it might help with ADHD symptoms.

Also, people react to caffeine in different ways. Some might feel more focused, but others could feel nervous or shaky.² If you’re already taking ADHD medicine, adding caffeine might make you feel too energetic or overstimulated.

If you’re wondering how you might make caffeine a part of your treatment plan, talk to your health care provider.

Studies on caffeine safety say that generally, healthy adults can consume up to 400 mg of caffeine each day without any risks.³ How much is that? A 12-ounce cup of brewed coffee has 80 to 100 mg of caffeine. The same amount of black tea has 71 mg, while a 12-ounce soda has 23 to 83 mg. A single shot of an energy drink — just 2 ounces — can range from 50 to 500 mg of caffeine.² 

Sticking to no more than 400 mg each day can help you avoid problems related to too much caffeine, like sleep issues and caffeine dependence.

Too much caffeine can keep you up at night and rob you of sleep — a common problem for many people with ADHD to begin with. That’s another reason not to use caffeine as a treatment for ADHD, according to licensed psychologist George Sachs, PsyD.

“Caffeine use is really popular among adults with ADHD because the feeling from caffeine is an improved focus and concentration,” Sachs says. “They feel the benefits and many of them drink more than one or two cups a day, which can be problematic because if you drink too much coffee, it’s going to impact your sleep. And then lack of sleep is going to make your ADHD symptoms worse.”

Caffeine stays in your body for a relatively long time. If you enjoy a large cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon, you might still have a lot of caffeine in your system when it’s time to start winding down for bed. Even if you can fall asleep, your sleep might not be as restful as it could be.

Some people consume so much caffeine they become dependent on it. That can lead to caffeine use disorder (CUD). Someone who has CUD is unable to cut back on caffeine use even if it’s causing other problems.⁴ 

If you’re using more than the recommended amount of caffeine or can’t cut back, think about how you’re using it, and whether there’s really a benefit to what you’re doing, suggests licensed therapist and ADHD coach Andrea Jaffee, LCSW.

“Is caffeine a tool that can help you manage your ADHD symptoms? Or are you drinking so much coffee that it’s causing you other problems, in which case you could perhaps benefit from considering prescription stimulants,” says Jaffee. 

Talk with your health care provider about your caffeine use and whether you should be doing anything different to manage your ADHD. 

As with most things, moderation is key when it comes to caffeine. A cup or two of coffee in the morning or early afternoon may help you feel awake and better able to focus. Unless you have side effects, there’s no reason not to reap the benefits.

If you have ADHD, your brain craves stimulation. Caffeine, a stimulant, may provide a boost of alertness and focus. But that doesn’t mean it can treat ADHD symptoms.

Stimulant medicines are a common ADHD treatment. They help with focus by making it easier for the ADHD brain to access dopamine, a hormone that’s involved in attention and reward. As a stimulant, caffeine can also help with focus. But it works mostly by blocking a brain chemical that causes sleepiness.

Research into how caffeine may or may not help with ADHD shows mixed results. Experts don’t recommend caffeine as an ADHD treatment. The effects of caffeine vary. It can interfere with sleep. If you’re interested in using caffeine to help with ADHD symptoms during the day, talk to your health care provider.