Caffeine and the Brain

  Our brains have natural cycles and caffeine often disrupts these cycles. Brains have certain processes on when to wake up and when to fall asleep. Caffeine is also very addicting and it is important for one to prioritize how much caffeine is consumed before it becomes harmful. Caffeine has many positive effects to a person such as keeping their brain motivated and can also prevent many diseases. Unfortunately, too much caffeine can cause negative side effects such as depression and anxiety. It is important to be aware of both the positive and negative side effects of caffeine and know the effects that it has on the brain and many parts of our bodies.

Caffeine creates many effects to our body's natural cycles. One of the main effects that it has on the human body is sleep cycles. Caffeine interferes with our melatonin rhythms meaning that it can delay sleep schedules and can confuse our sleep to waking up cycle. A study suggests that "400 mg of caffeine taken 0, 3, or even 6 hours prior to bedtime significantly disrupts sleep. Even at 6 hours, caffeine reduced sleep by more than 1 hour. This degree of sleep loss, if experienced over multiple nights, may have detrimental effects on daytime function"  ( NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic , n.d.).    Another natural aspect to our body is the hippocampus. This plays an important role in learning and memory. The hippocampus is mainly associated with long-term memory. It helps process two types of memory, declarative memories and spatial relationships. Caffeine helps enhance short term memory and makes it easier for the brain to remember information. Although it has an imp

Although caffeine is often consumed for the positive reasons that were listed in the previous post, there are also negative effects of it. Some of the short term effects that it has is it can increase breathing, heart rate, and mental and physical alertness. Some longer term effects can include chronic insomnia, anxiety, depression, and stomach problems. Some other effects are that it can cause high blood pressure and can sometimes make high blood pressure even worse.  It also often becomes unsafe to drink caffeine in higher doses. It can cause “insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, nausea, increased heart rate, and other side effects. Larger doses might cause headache, anxiety, and chest pain” (Caffeine: Overview, uses, side effects, precautions, interactions, dosing and reviews). 

Caffeine can be very effective and helpful to a person's daily life. Some of the obvious advantages of consuming caffeine is that it wakes your brain and body up, gives your body more energy throughout the day, and helps your brain stay active and focused. These are some of the main reasons why caffeine is popular but there are also other advantages that are not as well known. Caffeine, or coffee in particular, “reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease” and also “lower risk of Parkinson's disease” (Caffeine: Benefits, risks, and effects). It also helps prevent diseases, such as strokes and some cancers. Caffeine not only prevents those diseases but also can help decrease the likelihood of depression, helps improve mood, and stimulates brain function. 

One of the main molecules that the body uses for energy is adenosine triphosphate, also known as ATP. When cells form adenosine, the bond between the last two phosphate groups of ATP breaks and a new molecule, adenosine diphosphate also known as ADP, is formed and energy is released. You many be asking, why does this matter? This matters because it plays a very important when it comes to sleep. In the brain,  adenosine makes activity slow down cause the person to feel sleepy. In fact, one of the main roles of adenosine is that it is used to tell the body when the person needs to go to sleep. A region that involves the brain is the hypothalamus. This is a peanut-sized structure that is deep inside the brain that switches the brain between awakeness and sleepiness. It also helps increase the production of melatonin which leads to sleep. The image below shows the hypothalamus and where it is located in the human brain.

Caffeine has made a huge impact on society. It is one of the most necessary parts of a person's day and most cannot go throughout their day without it. Caffeine has become an addiction to those who use it daily and is an important supplement that is used all the time. This addiction is shown through a study that was put out explaining that "Americans drink about 146 billion cups of coffee per year. 66% of women drink coffee every day, compared to 62% of men" ( Nikolovska, 2022). When one walks down the street, it is almost a guaranteed that there is a Starbucks or local coffee shop within walking distance. Caffeine has made such a big impact to today's society and almost everyone uses it daily.  The consumption of caffeine daily starts to bring up the question, "how is this affecting our brains and are there any harmful or healthy effects that it has on us?" As we dig into this question and study the effects, there are positive and negative effects of caffei