How Caffeine Can Effect the Brain Many people start their day with a cup of coffee. According to John Hopkins, “Around 90 percent of Americans consume caffeine every single day in one form or another”. It seems if we need a wakeup call to our morning, many of us grab caffeine to give us that extra boost of energy. How much caffeine is ok for the average person each day? The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee from Healthgov.com recommend 3-5 eight ounce cups of coffee per day or up to 400 milligrams per day of caffeine for the average healthy consumer. Caffeine is a CNS stimulant drug known as trimethylamine. Caffeine is naturally found in chocolate, coffee, cocoa beans, kola nuts, and tea. It is also added to drinks such as soda and …show more content…
Caffeine can stay in your blood for 4-6 hours, although it’s strongest after one hour of consuming. It increases acid in your stomach which can cause heartburn. Caffeine is also a diuretic, therefore making your body lose more water. When consuming caffeine, moderation is key. Since it can be found in more than fifty products, one must be careful. The FDA warns us that “Caffeine overdose is dangerous and can kill you (FDA, 2007).” Drugs are classified by their effect on the central nervous system. According to health.gov, caffeine is a stimulant that tends to speed up the activity of a person’s CNS which includes the brain. Some examples of other CNS stimulants are Amphetamines, cocaine, pseudoephedrine (which is found in medications such as Sudafed, Codral Cold and Flu), Nicotine, and Caffeine. (health.gov.au, 2004)” There are many other drugs that stimulate the CNS. Some of these are methylphenidate (Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine sulfate (Dexedrine) which are used from ADHD. There are also CNS stimulants that help with severe obesity. These drugs can be seen as socially acceptable to those that have been diagnosed by a physician and prescribed them. There are also other CNS drugs such as amphetamines which are classified as schedule II under federal drug regulations (Medical-Dictionary). These are cocaine, crack-cocaine, methamphetamine, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine. These drugs are very …show more content…
Ann Pietrangelo of Healthline.com lists these organs as the digestive and excretory system, circulatory and respiratory systems, skeletal and muscular systems, and the reproductive system. In the digestive and excretory systems, caffeine increases the acid in your stomach causing heartburn or upset stomach. Since it’s a diuretic, it tells your body to get rid of water. Nausea and vomiting can be triggered from caffeine withdraw. Caffeine overdose can cause excessive thirst, diarrhea, and increased urination. The circulatory and respiratory system can make your blood pressure go up. People with irregular heart rhythms, the caffeine can make the heart work harder than normal. Large amounts of caffeine consumption can interfere with absorption and metabolism of calcium. This can lead to osteoporosis. With the reproductive system, Pietrangelo points out that caffeine travels within the bloodstream and will cross into the placenta. This can cause a baby’s heart rate and metabolism to increase. Caffeine in large amounts can slow fetal growth and increase the risk of miscarriages. Painful lumps in the breast (fibrocystic disease) can also be a symptom of caffeine. Along with all the adverse side effects of caffeine, there are some health benefits when it’s taken in
Caffeine is absorbed rapidly into the bodies blood stream. The blood stream carries the caffeine to the bodies organs within minutes of caffeine consumption. The suggested safe amount of caffeine for a healthy adult is around three hundred milligrams per day. The standard dosage of caffeine in coffee is about 100 milligrams for every six-ounce cup. The amount of caffeine in tea is relatively smaller, at about
III. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have estimated that the average daily caffeine
a. They say that having up to 3 eight ounce cups of coffee a day or 250 mg of caffeine is considered (quote) "average or moderate". 10 cups of coffee a day is considered excessive. Also, remember that the amount of caffeine per cup can vary greatly depending on the type of beans that are used and the strength of the brew.
The nervous system is the first to use it as a stimulant, however the risk of too much, or too little, can cause anxiety attacks, confusion, and hallucinations. Next, it travels to your stomach, which can be extremely dangerous if you ingest too much, caffeine rises the stomach acid amount. The term used by (Healthline Networks, Inc.) is diuretic, which triggers your body to get rid of water. After the caffeine is absorbed through your stomach it enters the bloodstream, which gives you the short burst of jittery-ness and irregular heartbeat increase. Caffeine truly reaches all parts of your body, causing the effect to last longer with higher
Caffeine will continue to have an effect on the body as long as it remains in the blood. The time required for the body to eliminate one-half of the total amount of caffeine consumed (or caffeine's half-life) varies from several hours to several days, but for the average non-smoking adult it is about 3-4 hours.
Caffeine is in tea, coffee, chocolate, many soft drinks,and pain relievers and other over-the-counter medications. In its natural form, caffeine tastes very bitter. But most caffeinated drinks have gone through enough processing to camouflage the bitter taste. Many people feel that caffeine increases their mental alertness. Higher doses of caffeine can cause anxiety, dizziness, headaches, and the jitters. Caffeine can also interfere with normal sleep. Caffeine in extreme cases could cause stroke, liver failure, and even
Caffeine has become a staple in many developed nations. As a stimulant, caffeine provides a viable solution to many individuals maintaining a busy lifestyle. Particularly in the developed world, individuals tend to work long hours, which creates vast amounts of stress. To help alleviate much of the fatigue that accompanies a busy lifestyle, many individuals elect to drink caffeinated beverages. These beverages range from typical colas to coffee, to energy drinks. Each has its own concentration of caffeine, or energy inducing ingredients. Through the consumption of these beverages, many individuals develop a habit of dependency. Those who consume, often do so in large quantities. Large amounts of caffeine can potentially be harmful to an individual's health when consumed vigorously. Below is a chart from the Specialty Coffee Association of America indicating consumption within America. According to the data compiled in the chart, 172 million Americans consumed coffee on a daily basis.
As people around the world discovered caffeine in their native vegetation, various cultures concocted drinks or chewed on the plants leaves to experience its effects. 90% of the world consumes caffeine daily and in each of those billions of humans, caffeine spread itself throughout their bodies and enters their brains. So how long does caffeine stick around in the body? The half-life of caffeine, or the time it takes of half of it to be broken down, is between five and six hours on average in adults. As the caffeine gets broken down, what does it become? Pure caffeine is a powerfully bitter white powder. So if caffeine is affecting the brain in so many ways, why isnt caffeine powder being snorted alongside coke or shot alongside heroine? Caffeine
What is does Caffeine is a substance that is in many beverages. It is a plant product commonly found in coffee beans, tea, soft drinks, cocoa and chocolate. Also found in some prescription and non-prescription drugs, including cold, allergy and pain relievers. There is a safe amount. Moderate and safe amount is up to 250mg.
Caffeine and its Long-term Physiological Changes To many people, caffeine seems like more of a necessity to start the day, or keep the day going, rather than a potentially harmful drug; however, most do not realize the long-term physiological changes that can occur as reported by several users. According to National Geographic, consumers spend 30 million dollars every year on caffeine tablets and roughly 50 billion dollars on caffeinated soda. Caffeine is a drug and as such makes changes the bodies. When people consume food or drink with caffeine in it the body responds by a raise the blood pressure, exciting the central nervous system, endorses urine formation, and speed up the action of the heart
Some short term effects of caffeine consumption are increased heart rate, rise in body temperature, feeling more awake, more alert and active, stimulation of the brain and nervous system and also increase the need to urinate. These short term effects affect the body from 5 to 30 minutes, as long as the caffeine is still in the blood.
This amount of caffeine is equal to about 3-4 cups of coffee. "The Mayo Clinic states that consuming more than 500-600 mg of caffeine a day may lead to insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, irritability, an upset stomach, a fast heartbeat and even muscle tremors." (Whiteman, 2015) Other research has shown that smaller amounts of caffeine has made some of these symptoms appear. The amount of caffeine you can consume without any symptoms differs from person to person. That quantity that may be ingested without having any negative side effects or how fast your body can metabolize the caffeine called your caffeine metabolism. Smokers can metabolize caffeine twice as fast as a non-smoker. Caffeine generally affects pregnant women, children, and adults with liver disease more than the average
Many of us find ourselves drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, an ice cold soft drink, a hot cup of tea, or an energy drink whether it be in the morning, afternoon, or in the night but one thing is that they all share a common ingredient: Caffeine
Many of us find ourselves drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee, an ice-cold soft drink, a hot cup of tea, or an energy drink whether it be in the morning, afternoon, or in the night but one thing is that they all share a common ingredient: Caffeine
Caffeine has many negative effects on humans, such as increased heart rate (Lane, J.D., 2002), depression (Goldstein, 2008), and addiction to this “drug.” You may be asking yourself, “What is caffeine?” Well, caffeine is actually a stimulant (Barone, Roberts, 2008) that is found in beverages such as tea, coffee, and soft drinks. In fact, caffeine is the highest grossing and most used stimulant in the United States (Barone, Roberts, 2008). It is estimated that 85% of adults living in the United States consume caffeine on a daily basis (Barone, Roberts, 2008). That means for every 100 adults, 85 of them have had a drink that contained caffeine on any given day. One reason caffeine is so widely available compared to other stimulants is