Research results just made public from Durham University have shown that people with a big coffee habit – more than seven cups a day – are three times more likely to hear a non-existent person’s voice and to see things that aren’t there. Some believe they see ghosts.

The heavy coffee drinkers monitored in the study reported experiences of hallucinations, hearing voices and sensing the presence of dead people.

But it may not all be directly down to the coffee. Evidently coffee increases stress levels and when stress hits a particular point the body releases cortisol. This is a hormone which is produced in greater quantities after drinking coffee. The additional cortisol may trigger hallucinations by impacting on brain activity involving the chemical dopamine – a message transmitter.

So maybe paranormal investigators are heavy coffee users to help them stay alert during the long hours on the watch at night that their work involves. And maybe the stimulant itself is creating some of the sounds, sights and experiences they record.

So when Inveraray Jail ghosts its next spook-hunt – very soon – it would be interesting to see if the very psychically active ‘new;’ building was any quieter  if the experts laid off the black stuff for a couple of days beforehand.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 5 Easy Ways to Manage Cortisol, the Stress Hormone