Warning: this video was made under the influence of caffeine!
So you get to work after a long commute and you’re feeling a bit tired, you reach for
a coffee and within seconds you feel more awake – how is the coffee affecting your
brain? Stay tuned to find out!
There’s no doubt about it, drinking a coffee or any caffeinated
drink when you feel tired will make you feel more alert but let’s take a second to think
about what coffee is. Coffee comes from the coffee plant which grows in many places but
primarily Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia. The seeds, also called coffee beans, are packaged
and shipped all over the world and are then brewed into your favourite coffee at your
local coffee shop.The types of coffee available are endless but no matter which you drink
they will all make you feel more alert, because they contain caffeine. How does caffeine make
you more alert? It’s all to do with the neuroscience. Adenosine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter
and so when it binds to receptors in the brain it reduces nerve activity and makes you sleepy.
To the receptors in the brain, caffeine looks just like adenosine and so it can bind to
those receptors too – but it doesn't reduce nerve activity, it just stops adenosine binding.
Therefore the neurons aren't inhibited, they just speed up- which stops you feeling sleepy and
instead makes you more alert and awake! So there you have it, next time you reach for
a coffee to give you that buzz, you’ll know how it affects your brain – just make sure
you don’t drink too much as you might end up with a bad case of the caffeine jitters!
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