May protect against heart disease and diabetesĭespite what you may have heard, caffeine doesn’t raise the risk of heart disease ( 26, 27, 28). SummaryĬaffeine may improve mood, decrease the likelihood of depression, stimulate brain function, and protect against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It’s important to note that coffee and tea contain other bioactive compounds (besides caffeine) that may also be beneficial. When it comes to mood, more caffeine isn’t necessarily better.Ī study found that a second cup of coffee produced no further benefits unless it was consumed at least 8 hours after the first cup ( 9).ĭrinking between 3–5 cups of coffee per day or more than 3 cups of tea per day may also reduce the risk of brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s by 28–60% ( 10, 11, 12, 13). In addition, a study linked drinking 2–3 cups of caffeinated coffee (providing about 200–300 mg caffeine) per day to a 45% lower risk of suicide ( 7).Īnother study reported a 13% lower risk of depression in caffeine consumers ( 8). One review reports that after participants ingested 37.5–450 mg of caffeine, they had improved alertness, short-term recall, and reaction time ( 1). This change in brain messaging is thought to benefit your mood and brain function. This causes a relative increase in other signaling molecules, such as dopamine and norepinephrine ( 5, 6). It stimulates the brain by blocking the effects of the neurotransmitter adenosine.Ĭaffeine has the ability to block the brain-signaling molecule adenosine. SummaryĬaffeine’s main effect is on the brain. Because it affects your brain, caffeine is often referred to as a psychoactive drug.Īdditionally, caffeine tends to exert its effects quickly.įor instance, the amount found in one cup of coffee can take as little as 20 minutes to reach the bloodstream and about 1 hour to reach full effectiveness ( 1). This combination further stimulates the brain and promotes a state of arousal, alertness, and focus. It may also increase blood adrenaline levels and increase brain activity of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine ( 3). This blocks the effects of adenosine, leading to reduced tiredness ( 3). Normally, adenosine levels build up over the day, making you increasingly more tired and causing you to want to go to sleep.Ĭaffeine helps you stay awake by connecting to adenosine receptors in the brain without activating them. ![]() It functions by blocking the effects of adenosine, which is a neurotransmitter that relaxes the brain and makes you feel tired ( 2). That said, caffeine’s main effect is on the brain. There is also a sentence stating the time until the caffeine on the graph is below 2 mg (the amount in decaf black tea).Once consumed, caffeine is quickly absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream.įrom there, it travels to the liver and is broken down into compounds that can affect the function of various organs. ![]() Below there is a graph which you can edit to change the original caffeine dose and add additional doses at different times. So, if one drinks a cup at 8 am, it will take until 7 pm the next day to reduce the amount of caffeine below 1% of the original dose.Ĭaffeine's half-life of 5.7 hours means that if one drinks caffeine every day, over time the amount of caffeine in their system will build up. It takes over 42 hours to reduce the caffeine in one's body down to 1% of the original dose. 2 These two facts imply that after 24 hours and no additional caffeine intake there is still 5.4% of the original dose of caffeine in the user's body. 1 A small cup of black coffee from Starbucks can contain as much as 180 mg of caffeine. Caffeine is a complex drug and the human body is far more complex, so caffeine will affect everyone differently, but for most people the half-life of caffeine is about 5.7 hours. Understanding the half-life of caffeine is useful for several reasons it helps one better manage tolerance, addiction, and accumulation of caffeine in the body. BenClark.xyz | Caffeine Calculator Ben Clark's Website
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