Unbelievable! Turns Out Drinking Coffee is Like Using a Credit Card - It Can Be Overdrawn?!

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"Drinking coffee is like using a credit card, borrowing against your body's energy quota in advance, and eventually reaching overdraft at some point."

People's love for coffee may stem from its taste, or perhaps from how the chemical substances in coffee affect the nervous system, bringing physiological stimulation and sensory enjoyment, allowing one to briefly alter their state of wakefulness in a world of mental stimulation.

As a socially permitted recreational drug in today's society, caffeine has no age restrictions. But perhaps from some day forward, it will be locked behind cabinets like alcohol and prescription drugs, forbidden to minors.

A recent consumer survey report from South Korea shows that more and more lower-grade students are purchasing caffeinated beverages (coffee, energy drinks, etc.) during their after-school time, and the higher the caffeine content, the more popular they are among students. However, we also know that excessive caffeine intake by minors affects development, yet there are currently no laws worldwide prohibiting minors from purchasing caffeinated products.

- Dialogue screenshot from the TV series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo"

Why Minors Should Avoid Caffeine

Minors should not consume caffeine for two main reasons: first, caffeine activates the sympathetic nervous system, causing short-term blood pressure elevation and increasing the risk of hypertension, which is detrimental to children's cardiovascular development; second, caffeine stimulates osteoclast activity, and prolonged caffeine intake affects calcium production in bones, which is unfavorable for children's bone development.

Minors should not consume caffeine for extended periods, and the same applies to adults. The latest research shows that coffee might not actually provide energy but rather deplete it, meaning that if adults consume excessive amounts of caffeine over long periods, not only will it fail to refresh them, but they will feel increasingly tired.

Like a credit card, each intake of caffeine is like using your body's quota in advance. If you keep "swiping" without "paying back," you'll eventually reach your limit and be unable to continue.

Neuroscientist and Stanford professor Andrew Huberman calls this "sleep hunger." The longer this condition persists, it will eventually lead to a phenomenon where coffee becomes ineffective regardless—caffeine burnout.

How Caffeine Works

"Isn't caffeine supposed to be refreshing? Why would it still make you sleepy?"

Let's first briefly understand how caffeine makes us feel temporarily awake.

People feel sleepy because the brain secretes a substance called adenosine, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. When adenosine combines with another specific signal receptor substance in the brain, it makes people feel sleepy. The more adenosine binds to receptors, the sleepier everyone becomes.

After you take a sip of coffee, the situation in your brain roughly looks like this...

(The pink cushion represents the receptor, the cow cat represents caffeine, and the orange cat represents adenosine)

Caffeine is not a substance that can make them sway together; what it can do is approach the receptor in advance and temporarily prevent adenosine from binding with the receptor. Adenosine not binding with the receptor doesn't mean the brain will stop secreting adenosine, because the body needs adenosine to help us reduce inflammation, regulate heart rate, aid digestion, etc.

The human body likes regular sleep, so the brain releases adenosine according to the 24-hour circadian rhythm. If you force yourself to stay up late, you'll feel even drowsier because the brain releases more adenosine than usual to help you fall asleep at your normal time.

The same applies to drinking coffee! The more caffeine you consume, the more adenosine accumulates, making your body feel hollowed out. Although your consciousness remains alert, it's like a soulless shell, with the body extremely exhausted. Continuing to consume more caffeine becomes meaningless, and this situation is what we call caffeine burnout.

If this condition persists for a long time, it will eventually lead to the body developing "drug resistance," where caffeine can no longer stimulate the nervous system, and people will only become increasingly tired and sleepy.

How to Avoid Caffeine Burnout

"So how can I avoid caffeine burnout? I still need it to survive!!"

Adjusting rest time, caffeine intake frequency, and consumption amount is extremely important!

The half-life of caffeine is five hours, and it takes ten hours for caffeine to completely wear off. This means that drinking a cup of coffee five hours before bed is equivalent to drinking half a cup right before sleep. Therefore, avoid consuming caffeinated foods (including coffee, cola, tea, chocolate, energy drinks, etc.) within 5 hours (preferably 10 hours) before bedtime to effectively enhance sleep quality.

Normally, adenosine needs time to dissipate in the early morning, so drinking coffee immediately upon waking doesn't actually refresh you; instead, it stimulates the production of more adenosine, keeping you in a state where you can't fully wake up. The best time to drink coffee is 90 minutes after waking up. This gives your adenosine time to dissipate, and only after it has mostly subsided will coffee achieve better refreshing effects.

While coffee makes you focused and excited, it also increases your stress. Therefore, when you feel stressed, don't choose to consume caffeine! This will also cause your brain to produce more adenosine to regulate your heart rate and relieve emotions.

Coffee is not some magic potion. When your body feels tired, what it needs is proper rest, not deceiving yourself by stimulating the central nervous system and overdrawing your abilities.

Just as the classic line from Hong Kong's old gangster movies says: "What goes around, comes around!" All overdrafted things eventually need to be repaid.

Good health is what matters most!

Image source: Internet

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