newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Please tell me I’m just hearing things.

It turns out that’s quite possible. According to a study found in the journal "Personality and Individual Differences," people who drink five cups of regular caffeinated coffee are risking auditory hallucinations.

Australian researchers asked 92 people to listen to three minutes of white noise through headphones. Participants were told to hit a buzzer whenever they heard White Christmas in their headphones. The Huffington Post reports that people who had drank five or more cups of coffee buzzed an average of three times, while less caffeinated players buzzed just once.

The trouble is, the song never actually played.

Professor Simon Crowe told the Herald Sun, “We didn't include White Christmas in the white noise but found that more people who were very stressed and had high levels of caffeine heard White Christmas.''

A larger study from 2009 showed similar results- highly caffeinated people — those who had consumed three cups of coffee — were three times more likely to hallucinate.

The Deseret News says it is all about the caffeine in coffee. Most adults in North and South America and Western Europe consume caffeine daily, and it is considered the most widely consumed psychoactive substance on earth.

Frankly, I believe they can take away my coffee when they pry my mug from my cold, dead hands. Actually, livescience.com tells us that caffeine can kill, but a person would have to drink 80 to 100 cups really quickly.

And they also mentioned that decaffeinated coffee does contain caffeine. Five to 10 cups of decaffeinated coffee contains as much caffeine as one or two cups of caffeinated coffee.