Science Questions

What causes the tremor from coffee?

What causes the tremor seen in heavy coffee drinkers, and is that related to dopamine like with Parkinson's Disease? Valerie via email

That's a very interesting question indeed. There's a bit of a paradox. In healthy people, caffeine causes a bit of a tremor in your hands, it reduces hand steadiness. Whereas there's evidence that it can protect against Parkinson's disease.

January 2007