It’s no secret that drinking coffee has certain effects on our mind and body. The question at task is, how exactly does coffee affect your brain? When drinking something as often as coffee, one must be aware of the effects so as not to harm one’s health.
Coffee Effects
Anti sleepy chemical
Structurally speaking, caffeine is similar to one chemical which makes us sleepy. That chemical is called adenosine.
The way it works is that the caffeine attaches itself the the sleepy chemical, thus preventing it to get to our brain and waking us up.
If you drink coffee regularly, it means that your brain has developed more adenosine receptors which is why you’ll need more coffee to stay awake, instead of the amount you started with when you weren’t a regular drinker.
We’re all familiar with how cranky and tired a person gets when they’re deprived of their coffee. This is simply because more adenosine makes you more tired, and without coffee, the effect can be seen more easily.
Body Energizing
On top of that, coffee is responsible for the buildup of adrenaline which, in turn, increases the heart rate, opens up airways and gets blood pumping. Now you can see why it’s so energizing.
The effect it has on adrenaline also explains why caffeine is so quick to wake our body and mind up.
Is coffee addicting only because your brain likes being energized? Not really. Caffeine prevents it from absorbing dopamine (a chemical which makes you happy) too quickly so that feel-good chemical is floating around the brain longer.
It’s no secret that some people can’t function at all until they drink their first cup of coffee in the morning. The fact that it gets rid of adenosine so easily, and increases dopamine as easily is why coffee is addicting and why you shouldn’t solely depend on it.
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