What Having Multiple Cups Of Coffee a Day Says About Your Personality, According To Science

If the question is coffee, my answer is always yes. Same? If you and Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls were probably separated at birth, you might want to know about how coffee drinkers' personality traits are different from those of non-coffee drinkers. A study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs in 2014 found that heavy coffee drinkers were more likely to exhibit traits of alexithymia — aka, difficulty identifying and describing their emotions. What's more, those who drank a lot of coffee were also more likely to have anxiety and be more sensitive to the negative consequences of getting in trouble.

Basically, if you have multiple cups of coffee a day, you are Lorelai Gilmore IRL. In fact, do we relate to Lorelai so much because watching her fumble through love and life while struggling to identify what she really wants and needs feels familiar? Is this why it took her and Luke seven years to figure out that whole relationship thing? Seriously, mind blown. Before you schedule an appointment with your therapist, it's important to note that this study used self-reporting methods and only included 106 participants. So, not everyone who drinks multiple cups of coffee a day needs to spend more time trying to identify their emotions. Perhaps you're just really busy and really tired.

Another study published in Current Neuropharmacology in 2015 noted that coffee is the most psychoactive, or mind-altering, drug in the world, and it can improve cognitive skills, which might help with that identifying-emotions problem. After water, coffee is the most widely consumed drink in the world with 1.6 billion cups being consumed a day, the study reported.

OK, math is not really my thing, but if there are 7.5 billion people on the planet, this means that every single person is drinking at least a quarter of a cup a day. This means that some of us are making up the difference. In a study published in the Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, it was found that 17 percent of Americans drink more than five cups of coffee a day, and 1.5 percent of people in Ontario, Canada, drink more than 15 cups a day. Oh. My. God.

The only negative personality trait associated with excessive coffee drinking came after 10 cups. According to the study, people who drink more than 10 cups of coffee a day are more likely than the general population to have a personality disorder. On the upside, the Mayo Clinic reported that there are myriad health benefits to drinking a moderately large of coffee, "including protecting against Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes and liver disease, including liver cancer. Coffee also appears to improve cognitive function, and decrease the risk of depression."

For migraine sufferers like me, it can also help ward off a crippling migraine. In fact, once when I was staying on the big island in Hawaii an hour from any type of store, I drove into town just to get an espresso. Everyone thought I was being difficult and melodramatic. But you know what else coffee drinkers are? Determined. So, drink up my friendlies, then go forth and take over the world like the caffeinated bosses you are.