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If you drink caffeine, you should probably spend an hour or two at some point learning the basics of how it works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Mechan
by lionhearted 16y ago
If you drink caffeine, you should probably spend an hour or two at some point learning the basics of how it works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Mechanism_of_action http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Mechanism_of_action
Long story really short - you've got this hormone called adenosine that tells you when you're tired. Andenosine floats around and attaches itself in your brain to an andenosine receptor. As it attaches, you feel tired.
Caffeine is shaped similarly to andenosine, so it sort of "blocks" the andenosine from getting to the receptor. You're still tired, you still need rest, but you don't feel tired. So that's the tiredness-removal effect of caffeine, it's stopping the andenosine from getting to the receptor.
Now, your body kind of minorly panics at this and secretes adrenalin - y'know, adrenalin, like when you get excited or sacred? Yeah, that one. When andenosine gets cut off, your body perks up like something is happening and releases adrenalin. So there's the energy boost.
Over time, your body start naturally producing more andenosine to compensate, hence, you need caffeine just to feel normal. And your body starts to realize that you don't need the adrenalin, so you start to produce less of it when having caffeine. If you've ever gone a while without caffeine and then had a coffee, you remember how off the wall hyper you got? That slowly fades because your body starts producing more andenosine (the sleepy hormone) if you're a habitual caffeine user, and less adrenalin.
There's more to it than that, but that's some of the basics. Wikipedia's got some decent stuff, a few minutes here and there skimming on this sort of thing is time well spent.
- sliverstorm 16y agothis is interesting. caffine never does a damn thing to me, which leaves me wondering what part of the chain is broken & why... I wonder if there's any tests i can do to learn more about myself in this regard.
- sounddust 16y agoSome people have a gene that causes them to metabolize caffeine much more quickly than others. I found this out by taking the 23andMe DNA test and discovering that I have this gene, which makes sense as it seems that I'm less affected by caffeine than others (although I make up for it by drinking more). * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CYP1A2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CYP1A2
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- iamdave 16y agoOutstanding comment, thank you for sharing this! I'm at the point of maybe three or four cups a day. But really, coffee doesn't even keep me awake anymore, if anything it's the exact opposite in that I can be alert (not fully awake, but aware), and the second I grab a cup of coffee I start feeling drowsy after it's gone.
- jrockway 16y agoIncidentally, I am the opposite. When I wake up in the morning, I feel awake and alert. Then I have coffee, and I feel amazing. If I have coffee after I get home from work, I can't go to bed before 5am, regardless of when I got up the day before. I consume a fair amount of caffeine every day, and I still have a buffer where I can use more to get more effect, or use less and not feel bad. FWIW, though, I also sleep a lot, especially on the weekends. I think the harm comes from chronically not sleeping, not delaying sleep by a few hours once in a while. Or, I've damaged my brain and I can't recognize adverse effects anymore. That's the great thing about brain damage, if you do it right, your brain is too damaged to realize that your brain is damaged. Life is just an illusion! ;)
- dirtyaura 16y agoExcellent description, thanks.
- chrisbuchino 16y agoGreat explanation. When I was drinking 10+ cups of coffee/day, I was not only not feeling perked up (pun indented) but more tired. I guess I was producing way too much andenosine.