Will the more coffee you drink, the sleepier you will feel?

What reactions occur after coffee enters the human body?

Is it addictive?

Is there a safe dose?

Is it beneficial or harmful to the human body?

Let us uncover the truth about coffee today

1. What are we drinking when we drink coffee?

Coffee can be said to be one of the most popular drinks in the world. The coffee mentioned in this article refers to pure coffee (American coffee) made from coffee beans only, rather than the caffeinated drinks that are popular in daily life and are made with milk, sugar or other condiments.

Many people like to drink coffee because it can refresh our minds. To understand how coffee can make us energetic, we must first understand where our sleepiness comes from.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the most direct source of energy in the body. Inside the cells, it provides energy to maintain the body's functioning. Outside the cells, it produces adenosine and binds to neuronal receptors, thereby inhibiting the discharge and activity of neurons, so you feel tired.

Adenosine diagram, source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Caffeine diagram, source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Coincidentally, caffeine, the main ingredient in coffee, has a similar structure to adenosine. This means that caffeine can also insert into adenosine receptors, but caffeine cannot play the role of adenosine, and it also occupies the position of adenosine, thereby reducing the inhibition of neuronal firing and activity, so you can stay awake and focused.

But receptors are not only found in the brain, but also in organs such as the kidneys. If the adenosine receptors in the kidneys are blocked by caffeine, it will inhibit proximal tubular reabsorption, causing you to go to the bathroom more frequently.

2. Drinking coffee also requires the right time and the right amount

Each of our brains has a limited tolerance for caffeine intake. If the adenosine receptors in your body are occupied because you drink a lot of coffee for a long time, your body will take measures to fight this situation.

Your body needs to enter a state of fatigue as soon as possible to urge you to rest. To achieve this goal, it will generate new adenosine receptors and force the brain to slow down. At this stage, if you do not change your previous coffee intake, you will feel that coffee is no longer as effective as before.

You can choose to drink more coffee to block these newly generated adenosine receptors to stay awake, but the cost is that when you suddenly stop drinking, the adenosine receptors that are more than normal will cause adenosine to over-act, which will cause you to have symptoms such as drowsiness, headaches, fatigue, lack of concentration, and depression. Fortunately, these excess receptors will disappear naturally in just a few days, and your body will quickly recover from caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

So if you have a habit of drinking coffee for a long time, your body may have developed a mild dependence on caffeine, but this mild dependence is not as serious as addiction to tobacco, alcohol or drugs, so don't worry too much. Although you don't have to worry too much about coffee addiction, you shouldn't drink too much coffee. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration points out that the upper limit of caffeine intake for healthy adults is 400 mg per day, which is about the amount of four cups of American coffee.

The caffeine level in the human body reaches its peak about 30 minutes after oral administration. The average half-life of caffeine is 4 to 6 hours, and it is mainly degraded by enzymes in the liver.

Some people can fall asleep peacefully after drinking a cup of coffee in the middle of the night, while some people still toss and turn at night after drinking coffee at noon. This is largely determined by genes. If you want to reduce the impact of caffeine on your sleep at night, try to drink your coffee before 3 pm.

At the same time, it is recommended that you do not take coffee with your medication, because caffeine itself is one of the most used psychotropic drugs in the world, and it is likely to affect the normal absorption and metabolism of other drugs.

In addition, the effects of caffeine on the developing fetus and the developing brain are still unclear, so pregnant women and children should carefully consider caffeine intake.

Although there are many studies that prove the effectiveness of coffee in preventing some diseases, it is obviously not a wise choice to prevent diseases by drinking coffee. For most people, there is nothing wrong with drinking coffee in moderation. Coffee, like all beverages, cannot be 100% healthy, but it is not necessarily the culprit for all health problems.

Author: Tang Yu

Source: Wang Wenzhong's "Coffee and Human Health", Biovalley, China Clinical Nutrition Network

END

Editor: Guru

The cover image of this article is from the copyright library and is not authorized for reproduction