A woman named Heidi recently contacted the ABC Radio Perth Afternoons program and said that if she did not have a coffee for 10 hours, she suffered from nausea, headaches and shaking. While her symptoms might sound extreme, they are not uncommon or surprising, according to Laura Bajurny from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. Coffee is a drug, a highly addictive drug at that, which is something that is easy to lose sight of considering how important it is to many people's lives. Persistent regular use creates a physical dependence or addiction. Cutting back is often difficult due the habitual social element as well as the chemical dependence. 

Caffeine is a powerful stimulant used to avoid feeling sleepy. While hard for adults to overdose on, children and teenagers are far more susceptible to caffeine poisoning, which they may consume in high doses through cola and energy drinks. 

The long-term effects of heavy daily coffee drinking are not well understood by most of the public. Regular heavy use of caffeine may increase your risk of things like osteoporosis, high blood pressure and heart disease, infertility, and is also linked to heartburn, ulcers, anxiety, depression and difficulty sleeping. More than four cups a day is putting you at risk of those long-term problems and you might like to consider cutting back slowly to a healthy one per day.