What effect does drinking coffee have on the brain?

When the first coffee bean was picked, roasted, ground and brewed into mellow and elegant hot coffee, the invention, known as the most romantic, began to spread around the world. According to the statistics of the International Coffee Organization, the world consumes 400 billion cups of coffee every year, and 14000 cups are drunk every second.

In addition to enjoying the mellow taste of coffee, more people drink coffee to refresh themselves. Why is coffee refreshing? what is God? Does regular coffee have a negative effect on the brain? To answer this question, the home page needs to understand the metabolic process of the body's energy.

Our food intake is converted into energy in the body, and the final part is stored in adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The operation of various functions of the body comes directly from the energy provided by ATP hydrolysis. ATP in the body is hydrolyzed step by step to meet the energy needs of cells, that is, ATP-ADP (adenosine diphosphate)-AMP (adenosine monophosphate)-adenosine step by step hydrolysis. When the body needs less energy, adenosine can undergo reverse chemical reactions to re-synthesize ATP. Adenosine, a small molecule, is our body's rechargeable battery.

Every day, the human body needs about 100 to 150 moles of ATP to provide energy, when in fact, there is only about 0.2 moles of ATP in the body. In other words, every day, the ATP battery is constantly charging, discharging and recycling in our bodies.

Our nervous system needs ATP to provide energy when it works. Waking requires more ATP than sleep, and mental activity requires more ATP.

So when we engage in intense mental work, complex thinking, or lack of sleep, the synthesis of ATP in the brain will not keep up with the consumption of ATP. Before rest, the concentration of adenosine, the final hydrolysate of ATP, gradually increases.

Adenosine is also a neurotransmitter. After the content of adenosine increases in the nervous system, it will make people nervous, difficulty in concentration, anxiety, irritability, aggressive behavior, and decreased learning and memory. This is the body reminding us that it is time to have a rest.

Coffee is a natural adenosine receptor blocker, so that people do not feel the drowsiness caused by fatigue, difficulty concentrating and so on.

But obviously, this is a "palliative" measure, the blocking effect of caffeine does not reduce the concentration of adenosine, and if we continue to work in this case, its concentration will continue to rise. it may reach a point where caffeine can no longer be blocked, and drinking coffee will no longer be effective.

Is drinking too much coffee harmful to the brain?

Adenosine is not only a nerve inhibitor, but also a modulator of nerve repair, which regulates glutamate secretion, central nervous inflammation, blood-brain barrier permeability and so on. Long-term high levels of adenosine can lead to abnormal repair function of these nervous systems.

In other words, while refreshing by drinking coffee, it also rejects the request for rest of the nervous system, delaying the time for the nervous system to repair itself. Under the current medical conditions, once the human nervous system is damaged, it will be difficult to recover to the previous level.

Therefore, long-term excessive consumption of coffee is not recommended. People's tolerance for coffee varies from person to person. After studying caffeine in the Dietary guidelines for American residents, healthy people can drink 5 cups of coffee a day. Many domestic experts suggest that it is best not to exceed 3 cups a day (about 200 milliliters per cup).