How caffeine affects your body, mind and
emotion
Caffeine is a white, slightly bitter
alkaloid, typically also known as "theine". It is actually a natural element
found in
coffee, where it makes up two or three percent within the weight of each
and every coffee bean itself, or perhaps from about 60-90 milligrams within an
average cup of coffee beverage. Robusta coffee bean carries a much more
caffeine content compared to Arabica coffee bean. Besides being found in
coffee, caffeine can also be discovered in about sixty different plants, for
instance tea leaf, cocoa, guarana and kola, in addition to products
produced from them, which include chocolate and cola-based sodas.
Like a stimulant inside our cerebral
circulation and neurological system, caffeine may ease headaches by
means of providing a sense of energy. Many pharmaceutical products
utilizes caffeine as an ingredient particularly for common colds and even
headaches prescribed medication. Caffeine can also have a diuretic
consequence considering that it encourages water removal by the renal
system. It's been frequently proven in medical tests that caffeine
actually elevates an individual's mental alertness in addition to the
ability to focus and concentrate. No doubt, caffeine can assists to
increase mental performances, but to have the false impression that
strong coffee drink may essentially assist to treat the negative impacts
of alcohol inebriation is misleading. Whenever a person is
intoxicated, strong coffee with caffeine would not help much.
Each time a person is greatly inebriated
because of alcohol, it will be preferable to allow them to be tired and
sleepy rather than to be lively. Consequently trying to circumvent the
alcohol impact by using a strong coffee beverage is certainly not really
a great idea. Furthermore, the added unwanted effect with massive
amounts of caffeine will in all probability deteriorate the ensuing
hangover subsequently.
Typically, excessive caffeine consumption
could cause palpitations, shaky hands, a sense of stress and anxiety
plus an inability to have a good sleep. "Too much", on the other hand,
can vary significantly among caffeine users; for some people just a single
cup of coffee beverage could actually leads to side effects, while others thrive on ten
cups each day. Caffeine is among the most widely-researched substance on
earth, but yet scientific and clinical viewpoints remain very divided.
There is always every basis to consider that the individual coffee
enthusiast, exercise some extent of moderation in keeping with
his or her amount of caffeine limit, will often will enjoy many years of
"safe" cup of coffee enjoyment.
Caffeine effects on the brain
As a stimulant, caffeine does accelerates
the physiological activities in our body specifically in the brain which
will makes us more alert. It achieves this effect by binding to the
adenosine receptors inside our brain. In normal times, our nerve cell
activities are slowed down by the chemical adenosine which will binds to
them. But however, with the presence of caffeine, it gets into the way
of the adenosine.
With these blocking by the caffeine in
place, the neurons becomes more active and that is why it helps the
brain to become more alert. It will simulate as though there is an
emergency and causes the pituitary gland to responds to all the
activities by the release of hormones that leads to the production of
adrenaline.
Caffeine Withdrawal
In medical studies, caffeine withdrawal
syndrome has been properly characterized. The potential for caffeine
withdrawal effects to cause impairment in functioning or clinical
significant distress is clearly included as a proposed diagnosis in
DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association) and an official diagnosis in
ICD-10 of World Health Organization. There are also evidence that
caffeine does affect children as well even though most researches have
been performed on adults.
Some of the common caffeine withdrawal
symptoms and signs are like headache, fatigue, sleepiness, concentration
difficulty, irritability, depression, and anxiety.
Caffeine Addiction
As the most commonly consumed psychoactive
substance, it is reported that 90% of Americans habitually consume
caffeine daily as it provides the mental boost. According to the 2010
Coffee Statistics Report, the world population consumed an estimated of
more than 400 billion cups of coffee with tea about half as much outside
the United States.
Other than being found in coffee drinks,
caffeine are also ingredients in many other foodstuffs like cola,
chocolate, tea and other beverages, as well as medications
over-the-counter. Most people don't view caffeine as a drug even though
a "must have" cup of morning coffee is similar to the same effect like
any drug has.
Caffeine side effects
Caffeine may be good
because of its ability to block adenosine which causes our body to "shut
down" when it is tired, and that provides us with a burst of energy to
keep us going daily. However, it is bad to have the adenosine effect
into the body on a prolong basis. Negative side effects will set in
after the initial caffeine high. Some of the effects which we may not be
fully aware are like:
-
Panic attacks. Caffeine will triggers
the mechanism of "fight-or-flight" instinct in our bodies but
however, after being in our bodies for many hours, these heavy doses
of caffeine will reduce this instinct to becomes a panic attacks.
Shaky hands, sweaty skin and negative feelings will happen.
-
Caffeine addiction. Our body will
starts to crave for that "booster" once we have got into the
caffeine fix habit. Our body becomes depressed, tired or even
irritable if we do not get that caffeine fix.
-
Dehydration. Due to the diuretic
properties found in the caffeine, it will cause dehydration. There
is a link between dehydration with caffeine in coffee and any other
foodstuffs that have this ingredient in them.
-
PMS. Women who tend to consume lots of
chocolates or drink lots of coffee will most likely to experience
the pre-menstrual syndrome more acutely compared to those who do
not. With the added presence of caffeine in their bodies, headaches,
belly cramps and bloated feeling may become keener.
-
Emotional fatigue. Caffeine keeps the
body awake and our body will never knows when to stop and rest. When
the body does not get enough rest due to the caffeine effect, it
causes the body to becomes emotional fatigue and tired physically.
Caffeine effects on
pregnancy
There are evidences to suggest that caffeine
of any amount could cause some physical effects on an un-born baby as
caffeine does pose certain risks during pregnancy. This is due to the
fact that caffeine will be passed to the baby via the placenta. Caffeine
can be broken down fairly quickly in an adults compared to developing
baby who cannot do it as efficiently. And because of that, caffeine tend
to be stored inside the baby's blood for a longer periods of time and
ultimately reaching a dangerously high level.
Caffeine could also affects the other aspects of a baby's health as it
could increase the heart rate of the baby which may affect how much the
baby moves in utero. The baby also receives less nutrition due to the
diuretic nature of caffeine.
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