Many of us want (or should I say need?) our morning coffee to give us that “get up and go” vibe. put together the world’s people drink more than 2 billion cups of coffee every day,
You may think that coffee gives you the energy to get through the morning or day — but coffee may not give you as much as you think.
The main stimulant in coffee is caffeine. And the main way caffeine works is by changing the way cells in our brain interact with a compound adenosine,
get busy, get tired
adenosine is part of the system Which regulates our sleep and wake cycles and is part of why high levels of activity lead to fatigue. as we go about our days and do things, Adenosine levels rise Because it is released as a by-product as energy is used in our cells.
eventually adenosine binds to its receptor (the parts of cells that receive signals) that tell the cells to slow down, causing us to fall asleep and stay asleep. This is the reason why you feel tired after a day’s activity. when we are sleeping, energy usage drops Decreasing adenosine levels as it is converted back into other forms. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. Well, if you get enough sleep.
If you’re still feeling drowsy when you wake up, caffeine may help for a while. works by binding to adenosine receptor, which it can do because it’s a similar shape. But it is not so similar that it triggers the drowsy slow-release signal like adenosine. Instead it just fills the spots and prevents adenosine from binding there. This is what removes the feeling of drowsiness.
no free rides
But there is a catch. While it does feel energizing, this little intervention of caffeine is more a debt of wakefulness than a creation of any new energy.
that’s because The caffeine won’t stick around forever, and the adenosine that it blocks doesn’t go away. So eventually the caffeine breaks down, releasing the receptors and all that adenosine that’s been waiting and building up, and the drowsiness returns — sometimes all at once.
So, the debt you owe to caffeine always has to be repaid, and the only real way to repay it is by sleeping.
timing is everything
How much free adenosine you have in your system, which hasn’t yet attached to receptors, and how drowsy you are as a result, will affect how much caffeine you drink wakes you up. So, the coffee you drink later in the dayYour system may feel more powerful when you get more sleep cues.
If it’s too late in the day, the caffeine at bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep. The “half-life” (how long it takes for half of it to break down) of caffeine is approximately 5 hours, that said, we all metabolize caffeine differently, so the effects wear off more quickly for some of us. Regular coffee drinkers may feel less of a caffeine “punch”. Tolerance To build stimulants over time.
caffeine can also raise cortisol levels, a stress hormone that can make you feel more alert. This may mean that caffeine seems to be more effective later in the morning, as there is already a natural increase in cortisol when you wake up. The effects of coffee right out of bed may not seem as potent for this reason.
If your caffeinated beverage of choice is also sweet, it can increase that feeling of peak and crash. Because while sugar produces real energy in the body, the free sugar in your drink can cause a spike in blood sugar, which can then make you feel tired when you dip comes later,
While there are no proven disadvantages of drinking coffee on an empty stomach, coffee with or after a meal Can kill you more slowly. This is because food can slow down the rate at which caffeine is absorbed.
What about a strong tea or fizzy cola?
Coffee, of course, isn’t the only caffeinated beverage that can lend you some energy.
The caffeine in tea, energy drinks and other beverages still affects the body in the same way. But, since the ingredients mostly come from plants, each caffeinated drink has its own profile of additional compounds that may be present in them. self-stimulating effectOr may interact with caffeine to alter its effects.
Caffeine can be useful, but it’s not magic. We need adequate food, water and sleep to generate energy and re-energize our body.
Emma BeckettSenior Lecturer (Food Science and Human Nutrition), School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Newcastle University
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons Licence. read the original article,
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