Caffeine tidbit
Mar. 8th, 2005 12:18 amOne of my favorite things to say about caffeine is 'It's not a a stimulant!' - something I got out of my biopsychology class. My followup explanation is usually 'It's a deregulator'.
More details, courtesy of google and howthingswork.com:
caffeine blocks the reception of 'adenosine', which makes you sleepy and slows down your brain. Without adenosine, the result is, in the general population, a brain that accellerates, gets more active. The true 'stimulant' effect occurs because the active brain makes your adrenal gland think something's really up, dumping epinephrine into your blood system. So, suddenly you're in fight-or-flight mode. No wonder your heart is pounding.
Fun!
More details, courtesy of google and howthingswork.com:
caffeine blocks the reception of 'adenosine', which makes you sleepy and slows down your brain. Without adenosine, the result is, in the general population, a brain that accellerates, gets more active. The true 'stimulant' effect occurs because the active brain makes your adrenal gland think something's really up, dumping epinephrine into your blood system. So, suddenly you're in fight-or-flight mode. No wonder your heart is pounding.
Fun!