The Effects Of Caffeine On The Brain
How difficult it can be to start the day without a cup of coffee for many people. Even, sometimes, it seems that just by smelling its aroma they begin to clear. And it is not only its smell, but also its flavor that generates that sensation of pleasure, in addition to fulfilling a very specific function: stimulating the alert and attention systems. Now, what are the effects of caffeine on the brain? Why are some people more sensitive to coffee?
At a chemical level, caffeine is a molecule that works as a brain emitter and blocks adenosine, a substance that makes us feel tired. In this way, when we drink coffee we feel activated. And it is that caffeine, present in coffee and also in slightly modified tea and cocoa, is capable not only of activating our brain, but also of improving our sense of humor.
Now, officially, caffeine is considered a drug -more for use than for abuse-, since it is capable of generating dependence. At the neurobiological level, it can modify the state of consciousness and the quality of certain thoughts and actions. However, taken in moderation it does not pose a serious health risk.
Although most people drink coffee for pleasure, others consume it for different reasons. Some of them are the following:
- Activation or increase of the alert level.
- Extension of the alert time -especially in work and academic contexts-.
- Increased ability to concentrate.
- Increase in brute strength – it can help to develop more muscle strength per unit of time.
- Mood improvement – caffeine has mild antidepressant properties.
- As a component of diets, for its satiating capacity.
- As a diuretic or inducer of intestinal activity, in view of its influence on the autonomic nervous system.
- By way of hypertensive, since it can raise arterial blood pressure.
- In the field of beauty and cosmetics, as a component of products that, above all, make use of the decongestant properties of caffeine.
- To relieve pain, as a mild pain reliever.
In any case, and although its use in small doses is relatively safe, it is recommended that it is not used for health-related issues without prior consultation with a health specialist.
What are the effects of caffeine on the brain?
Caffeine is a stimulant drug that has different effects on the brain. These not only affect cognitive processing capacity, but also manifest themselves on a psychological level.
This substance, in addition to blocking adenosine receptors, interacts with other neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine, which are generally involved in cognition and emotion.
Effects of caffeine on cognition or mental performance
Certain cognitive abilities tend to increase their efficiency due to the influence of caffeine. Some of them are the following:
- Response times.
- The degree of alertness and wakefulness.
- The general quality of mental information processing.
- Task monitoring and error detection.
However, using caffeine as a strategy to improve mental performance is not a good idea. There is no study that has shown a quantitatively significant difference.
In addition, it has not been proven that higher doses of caffeine imply an improvement in mental efficiency. In fact, there is a limit in the amount of intake of the substance beyond which no cognitive improvement is observed. To this must be added, the incipient anxiety that it probably generates and the possible withdrawal syndrome that may develop if excessive consumption is reached.
On the other hand, the action of caffeine includes an important placebo component : if a coffee drinker expects some increase in performance, but this does not occur, they may try to overcompensate by striving for that performance. The end result will obviously be an increase in performance that you can attribute to the caffeine itself.
Effects of caffeine on mood
As we have said before, caffeine increases alertness. And, precisely, it is that feeling of activation that for many people is an incentive about how good they feel at a given moment. In fact, some claim that under the influence of caffeine they experience a greater sense of task accomplishment.
But as it can happen with other activating substances, caffeine tends to produce, in a secondary way, an increase in anxiety. This effect could counteract any transitory mood improvement caused by coffee consumption.
In general, the impact of caffeine on mood is related to expectations, that is, how it is expected to influence and the context in which caffeine ingestion occurs.
Thus, for some clinical and research professionals, the greatest positive effect that caffeine can cause in an individual is not so much to counteract the lack of energy, but to alleviate the symptoms of a kind of withdrawal syndrome, after a long time without consume the substance.
This position, however, has not been scientifically validated; although experience indicates that an individual’s mood can be improved by taking caffeine regardless of the time that has elapsed since the last coffee drink.
