Background of the Brain

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.

Comments

Introduction

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...

Negative Effects of Caffeine to the Brain

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 and the Brain

Search This Blog