Last week, I met a very close friend of mine by the name Matins. It was actually a cold evening, I was passing by three streets to his residence and he was around that area to get himself milk and coffee. It's been nearly three years we lost contacts; Seeing each other demanded we spend quality time. I followed him to his house where cached up with each other's lives. He entreated me with bread, fried eggs and coffee. This meal might be strange in your zone but it is a norm in my place. After two hours of talking and dining, I had to go back to my residence. We exchanged contacts and I departed to my place. On getting home, I attended to my normal even routine then retired to my bed. Unfortunately, I could not sleep that night. I was wide through the dark as I pondered on what spell was at work in my body. Within seconds, my limbic system swiftly brought to my remembrance the coffee dosage I had few hours earlier.
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Coffee is a widely consumed beverage all over the world and it has many nutritive substances in it depending on its brewing process. Nutritive substances includes carbohydrates, minerals, polyphenols, melanoidins (responsible for dark pigmentation of coffee) and caffeine. An appreciable bio-active constituent of coffee is the alkaloid caffeine also known as 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine (or 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2, 6(3H, 7H)-dione) . It is the most widely consumed stimulant of the central nervous system among athletes. (NB: 90% on North American adults consume caffeine daily). Alongside coffee, many other edible substances such as ice-cream, tea, chocolates, soft drinks and soda contain a significant amount of caffeine in them.
Caffeine or coffee in itself doesn't prevent sleep, controversially many people report felling drowsy and sleepy after consuming foods containing caffeine- this is the opposite of what doctors and many other long hours working individual expect from ingesting coffee. So what exactly is caffeine doing to our body? And how does the body react to it?
First things first, one should know that caffeine is a drug!!
Off the counter energy drinks are widely believed to give its consumer energy, this is not accurate as energy is derived from carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The energy drink do not work to add these classes of food to the body in order to provide energy (the best option in this case is glucose). Energy drinks contain stimulants such as caffeine to help make the consumer more alert to do the day's work. Stimulants are wide range of drugs capable of increasing activity of the central nervous system, make one feel pleasurable and as well make one feel strong and full of energy. Lisdexamfetamine, methylphenidate and amphetamine are the most prescribed stimulants. Caffeine on the other hand is present in food and also administered separately. Caffeine is a major constituent of medications used in treatment of migraines, headaches and drowsiness. Taking caffeine along with painkillers such as aspirin or acetaminophen(paracetamol) is highly effective in combating migraines and tension headaches.
Looking at these two chemicals, one might not see that much of a similarity but they can not be distinguished from each other by the receptor they compete for.
Licence: Public Domain --- Source: Wikimedia
Good news, caffeine lowers risks of cancer
Caffeine reduces the risks of certain cancers such as the hepatocellular cancer and endometrial cancer. They also have notable effect on colorectal cancer. Caffeine reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetics. However, heavy consumption of caffeine posses a higher risk of developing cancer of the bladder. People with glaucoma, increase in intraocular pressure has also been noted with caffeine intake.
Licence: Public Domain --- Source: Wikimedia
Coffee consumption is highly beneficial
But like every other consumables, coffee or caffeine in high quantity can be detrimental to normal physiological functioning of the body. For example, sudden withdrawal from excessive caffeine consumption can lead to headache, anxiety and drowsiness. Rare extreme effects such as vomiting, confusion and hallucination have also been noted. Caffeine consumption in high quantity can lead to death.
Now to the issue of drowsiness after caffeine intake
From scientific research studies, we know that caffeine doesn't directly make prevent you from sleeping but only makes you more alert by delaying adenosine from binding to its receptors. After caffeine wears out, the large sum of adenosine produced is enough and able to make one fall asleep. In some rare cases, people report of feeling drowsy immediately after caffeine consumption. This reaction of the body to caffeine intake can be traced to the diuretic functioning of caffeine. Diuretics are substances that decreases the body water volume by expelling water and salt through the excretory systems of the body. When there is less water in the blood, it thickens and travel slowly within its vessels. This leads to minimal supply of oxygen to vital organs which leads to drowsiness and eventually sleep. A caffeine drink with more sugar will increases this process as sugar is also a strong diuretic.
So how was I able to sleep the other night
I stood up from the bed to use my available excess alertness to do my procrastinate-prone works. Cleaned the whole house, wrote some articles, drank a lot of water, exercised, ate some food and then binge watched movies. I learnt to stop drinking caffeine-rich foods once it is 2 pm.
Further Reading
- Stimulant
- Caffeine and the Brain
- Coffee Bioactive nutrient Analysis
- Caffeine Effect on the Body
- Caffeine: Drug
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Nice article. I drank coffee almost every single morning to jump-start myself. What is the recommended amount of caffeine that one can take? There must be some kind of guideline or study which suggest a certain amount would accentuate physiological benefits and if exceeded, would cause harm, wouldn't it?
Hi @chloroform, thanks for stopping by.
Roughly, the amount of caffeine when ingested capable of leading to death is calculated as 300mg per kilogram the consumer's weight, this quantity is referred to as the lethal dosage of caffeine. Hence to kill an 80 kg man, you would be requiring 24g of caffeine.
Howbeit, medical professionals warn against exceeding a daily dosage of 300mg of coffee. This equivates to 4 cup of coffee.
Although not reaching the lethal dosage, there are other contents of the food or beverage capable of causing death. One could experience a shock from high sugar rush.
Apart from not exceeding a specific amount of caffeine, one should take it at intervals.
Thank answers your questions!
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