Caffeine addiction

It’s common to start our morning with a cup of coffee or tea. Almost everyone is addicted to coffee and especially researchers consume a lot more of coffee than others. There are a lot of positive effect of coffee but with every positive effect there comes a negative effect. Therefore its important to know the effects of coffee on your health.

 

Its also important to know how does coffee or caffeine works in the body. To a nerve cell caffeine just looks like adenosine. Adenosine is a purine nucleotide which is involved in many physiological process and is also involved in regulation of blood flow to various organs. So, when caffeine is injected in the body it doesn’t slow the effect the cell’s activity but the cell cannot identify adenosine because all the receptors are being taken up by caffeine and this causes the nerve cells to speed up instead of slowing down.

Here is a video on mechanism of caffeine:

Effect of coffee on the brain:

After consumption of coffee there is an increase in neuronal cell firing which in turn increases the production of adrenaline. Caffeine increases the dopamine level in the brain just like drugs do. The body likes caffeine injection in short term especially when you are sleep deprived and want to stay awake. When you inject caffeine it blocks the adenosine receptors and thereby there is increase production of adrenaline in the body which results in a boost. It also changes the dopamine production and thereby makes you feel good or give a sense of satisfaction.

Here is another video on how coffee affects your brain:

And in a recent study in rats shows that when caffeine is induced in young rats the maturing process in the brain are delayed.

Image courtesy: Maslov Dmitry / Fotolia (Science daily)

Further reading:

• http://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine.htm
• http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/51/1/83.long – Action of caffeine on the brain – Zvartau et al.