How much do you know about the effects of caffeine?

Effects of Caffeine

Caffeine is a commonly used psychotropic drug, and is even called "the only legal drug in the world" by some people. As a central nervous system stimulant, caffeine intake stimulates the central nervous system, temporarily increases blood pressure by 2 to 4 mmHg, and speeds up the heartbeat. At the same time, the body's calming mechanism is temporarily suppressed (interfering with the natural function of certain chemicals in the brain). This "blocker" causes the brain to "misjudge" and release more exciting information, increasing the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. The result is: increase people's alertness and attention, maintain fast and clear thinking, temporarily drive away sleepiness and get excited . Caffeine is also used in clinical medicine to treat neurasthenia and coma resuscitation. For this reason, coffee, tea and other energy drinks containing caffeine are very popular. Of course, we should understand that taking caffeine cannot really replace sleep, it can only temporarily reduce the feeling of sleepiness.

After a cup of coffee, caffeine will be completely absorbed by the stomach and small intestine within 45 minutes and distributed to all organs of the body, and the peak concentration can last up to 2 hours. This time is neither long nor short. Some impatient friends expect to be full of energy and vitality instantly after drinking a cup of coffee, which is unrealistic.

For many animals, caffeine is highly toxic because their livers are not very good at breaking it down. We humans are much luckier. A large number of clinical studies have shown that normal intake of caffeine is safe and beneficial - caffeine is a functional enhancer that can enhance the ability of the brain and body. From the perspective of business nature, the so-called "coffee business" that has prospered for hundreds of years around the world, especially the coffee business in the era of consumption downgrade, is actually a naked "caffeine business." If there is anything else besides the huge caffeine business, it is the milk business and the sweetener business.

After drinking a large cup of coffee, most people will experience excitement, increased urination, accelerated gastrointestinal motility (hunger), slightly red face, faster heartbeat, and even insomnia. These are all normal and there is no need to worry. However, if you experience irritability, nervousness, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle twitches, distracted thinking, palpitations, chest tightness, etc., it means that the central nervous system is overexcited, which is likely due to excessive caffeine intake in a short period of time, resulting in physical discomfort. I have three suggestions for this:

First , talk to yourself, understand your physical condition, reduce the amount of coffee you drink at a time, and adjust to an amount that your body can adapt to.

Second , change the time of drinking coffee, for example, change drinking coffee in the evening to drinking coffee in the afternoon, or change drinking coffee in the afternoon to drinking coffee in the morning.

Third , try not to drink coffee on an empty stomach.

This article is excerpted from the second edition of "Coffee Coffee" P122

Author: Qi Ming

Publisher: Jiangsu Phoenix Science and Technology Press

Edition: 2nd edition, July 2019

Publication date: 2019.7

Standard book number: ISBN 978-7-5713-0269-6