14 Jan 2009

Coffee drinkers more likely to imagine things - study

8:10 pm on 14 January 2009

Serial coffee drinkers are more likely to have hallucinations or feel "the presence of dead people", research has found.

A British-based study quizzed 200 students on their caffeine intake and found that those who consumed the equivalent of seven cups of instant coffee or more a day were three times more likely to report seeing, or hearing, things that were not there.

The Durham University study took in all caffeine consumption, including coffee but also tea, caffeinated energy drinks, chocolate bars and caffeine pills.