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How does Caffeine Affect the Nervous System

Max. D Gray
By Max. D Gray. Updated: January 20, 2017
How does Caffeine Affect the Nervous System

Caffeine is a stimulant from coffee, amongst other things. It acts on the nervous system during a given time lessening our tiredness and giving us more energy. Contrary to popular belief, this does not accumulate in the blood but it is cleared within a few hours of taking it. Although not all individuals enjoy the effect of caffeine in the same way, it does have an influence on our body. To find out what those effects are, on OneHowTo we are going to have how caffeine affects the nervous system of the human body.

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Steps to follow:
1

Being an energising substance, caffeine stimulates our daily activity and causes us a sense of euphoria for a short period of time. We can feel more strong soon after eating it but, depending on the time you take coffee, insomnia can hit us, so it is advisable not to do beyond noon to avoid this problem in the evenings.

2

Caffeine stimulates the brain as it interferes with the natural action of our adenosine, which is a nerve transmitter that causes us to relax. So, to keep awake, caffeine influences our intellectual activity and stimulates our creativity by making us feel stronger and more active and helping us to increase adrenaline levels of our brain. By facilitating our attention, our intellectual effort is benefited.

How does Caffeine Affect the Nervous System - Step 2
3

By increasing the levels of adrenaline, caffeine increases the physical performance of sport and affects our heart by increasing its force of contraction and blood pressure. This increases your resistance, which is ideal for doing aerobics or exercising for long periods. Therefore caffeine has a significant influence on athletes, since caffeine increases their capacity of concentration and physical fatigue decreases, resulting in a better outcome in sports brands.

4

According to medical studies, caffeine decreases fatigue of muscles and also acts on the respiratory system. So we can talk about a bronchodilator substance which can help reduce symptoms in asthmatics. By stimulating the function of our lungs, caffeine improves the activity of the respiratory tract and can be used as a treatment in these patients.

How does Caffeine Affect the Nervous System - Step 4
5

Caffeine generates certain dependency after daily consumption and it has the disadvantage of creating insomnia and restlessness. Since our body gets used to its consumption, we tend to increase it, which may cause respiratory and cardiac conditions because of an increase in the usual dose. Other symptoms that can feel from consumption without measure are tremors or altered perception of reality. Furthermore, in the case of pregnancy it is recommended to limit your intake.

Therefore it is desirable to make a rational use of this substance without raising the daily doses beyond our tolerance we acquire daily to consume. We cannot speak of a full-blown addiction, as those who consume do not show compulsive behaviour or lose control, which are the most common symptoms of an addiction such as when using other substances such as alcohol or drugs.

This article is merely informative, oneHOWTO does not have the authority to prescribe any medical treatments or create a diagnosis. We invite you to visit your doctor if you have any type of condition or pain.

If you want to read similar articles to How does Caffeine Affect the Nervous System, we recommend you visit our Family health category.

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