Your body on coffee

Drinking coffee can play a big role in our daily lives. Some drink coffee because they simply like it and others drink coffee to gain more energy or stay awake. Either way, we all drink coffee but what exactly happens in your body when caffeine is consumed?

Your Brain

Located in your brain your are Adenosine receptors. This attracts and attaches to Adenosine, which encourages sleep. When these two connect, your body gets physically tired. However, when you drink coffee the caffeine attaches to those receptors and basically the Adenosine is unable to connect, which then prevents you from ever feeling tired.

After a while your brain starts to build more and more Adenosine receptors, which is why only one cup of coffee isn't enough anymore and you have to consume more caffeine to fill all those new receptor-spaces. Be that as it may, if you drink twice as much coffee to get the same effect, it may not work and then the only remedy is a good nights sleep.

Besides the Adenosine receptors, caffeine will also have an effect on the dopamine levels. Dopamine is a hormone and also acts as a neurotransmitter that is naturally produced by your body. It makes you feel good and is stimulated when you consume caffeine. Dopamine levels are drastically increased when other drugs are consumed and this is usually what creates the"feel-good" sensation. Besides lifting your mood it also helps you focus.

Your body

Neurology professor Rachel Salas who specializes in sleep medicine explained that "It takes about 6 hours to reduce the amount of caffeine in our blood by about 50 percent,". This also depends on your metabolism, if you have a fast metabolism you will probably be able to recover from the 50% in less time. If you have a slow metabolism your body will take more time to get back to normal.

Too much caffeine

Caffeine has a couple of negatives as well. It could cause a panic attack if you ingest too much. Another risk is the increased anxiety and high blood pressure. Symptoms such as heartburn, headaches, muscle aches, jitters and stomach problems are also in result of drinking too much coffee.

But coffee isn't all that bad, studies have also found that it could help with a better memory and also a decrease in suicide risk with 45%. More positives include cancer prevention and revamping some liver related damage.

Either way stay safe and be sure to drink your coffee in moderation :)