It starts with a case of the jitters, then moves slowly to insomnia with a touch of upset stomach.

The heart begins to race and swiftly the blood pressure level moves up slightly and dangerously.

These are the effects of caffeine addiction.

Caffeine addiction affects a wide range of people, including college students, adults and the elderly.

According to an article from cbsnews.com, 80 to 90 percent of Americans rely on some form of caffeine during their day.

For Miranda Shipley, a senior from Gettysburg, Pa., consuming coffee first thing in the morning is a must.

Shipley said every morning, she make three cups of coffee, pours it all into a huge mug and begins her day. She said that out of her four roommates, three of them are addicted to caffeine.

“I usually use it to stay awake if I have a lot of studying to do,” Shipley said. “I don’t really see caffeine as a harmful thing, but then again I haven’t really looked into it.”

Shipley said that she has never thought that a lot of college students were addicted to caffeine because most of the time she hears about them consuming large amounts of alcohol or unhealthy foods.

She said she has tried to stop drinking so much coffee since she started her freshman year, but it gave her headaches.

“I first tried coffee when I was little and I was at breakfast with my parents,” she said. “I hope I don’t ever have to stop drinking coffee because that would be a really bad thing.”

Julia Cielo, a senior from Kansas City, Mo., works at Spencer’s Coffeehouse. She said that their coffee clientele consists of people of all ages, but the only thing that differs is the time of day they arrive.

“Nights are usually consumed with college students that come here to study after 8 p.m.,” she said. “During the day, it is mostly adults that come in here to eat lunch during their breaks.”

Cielo said the same 100 customers usually come in every day and order the same thing, and after that, it’s mostly wanderers.

“A lot of students that come in here to get coffee tell me that they probably shouldn’t be buying it,” she said. “But then they tell me they need it to stay awake, so I give them a shot of espresso.”

Wayne MacGregor, business office manager and a registered nurse at Health Services, said although caffeine does have temporary side effects, it does not harm the body long term.

“Caffeine does do some good things like kick start the day if you consume it in the morning,” MacGregor said. “And because it is a diuretic, there will be some loss of fluids.”

MacGregor said caffeine is not just in soft drinks and coffee, but it’s also in chocolate, candies and certain medicines.

According to medicinenet.com, the top three items that people consume that contain caffeine are plain brewed coffee, energy drinks and chocolate.

“Items with both sugar and caffeine in them like, ice cream, tea and chocolate, are the absolute worst,” he said. “The person has a sugar high at first and then a caffeine high, followed by a crash after it’s over.”

He said that people should stop drinking and eating things with a lot of sugar and caffeine in them at about 6 p.m. and start drinking water or juice if they want to avoid insomnia.

“Some people think they have escaped consuming caffeine if they stop drinking fluids that contain it, but it is also appetite suppressing,” he said. “After people come down off their caffeine high, they are in starvation mode, so after consuming a lot of caffeine or sugar, they should preferably eat something with protein in it.”

Reach Alex Booze