Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

Caffeine

What is caffeine?

Caffeine benefits

Caffeine risks

How to remove caffeine from the body

References

What is caffeine?

Caffeine is a drug that stimulates the brain and nervous system, increasing the levels of chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline in the blood. It is the most widely-used mind-altering drug on earth.

Caffeine is naturally found in the leaves and fruits of several plants. The richest plant sources of caffeine are coffee, black tea and chocolate (cacao). It is also in green tea and cocoa. Caffeine is added to many soft drinks, colas and energy drinks, sometimes at very high levels. It may also be in chocolate bars, energy bars and some non-prescription medications, such as cough syrup and slimming tablets. Guarana (a popular additive in energy drinks) is also a natural source of caffeine.

Some people get the jitters from caffeine, others seem little affected and use a lot of caffeine every day to enjoy its benefits.

In small doses, caffeine can make you feel refreshed and focused. In large doses, caffeine can make you feel anxious and have difficulty sleeping. The dose level can vary widely for different people, depending upon the general state of health, adaptation to caffeine, and genetic aspects of the liver.

Like many other drugs, it is possible to develop a tolerance to caffeine, which means you need bigger and bigger doses to achieve the same effect.

Pregnant women, children and athletes and should limit their caffeine intake.

Caffeine does not give you more energy. However, it does help you to stay awake, focus, memorise and stay alert, as described below.

Caffeine is well absorbed by the body, and the short-term effects such as increased breathing and heart rate, and increased mental alertness and physical energy, are usually experienced between 5 and 30 minutes after taking it. Depending on the individual, these effects can last from up to 12 hours. Caffeine typically has a half-life in the body of 4 - 6 hours.

Caffeine benefits

Daily moderate consumption of tea or coffee has many benefits.

Caffeine risks

These negative symptoms vary depending on the person. Some people are hardly affected, others have little tolerance for caffeine.

How to remove caffeine from the body

Remember that caffeine typically has a half-life of 4 - 6 hours in the body. This is what you can do to reduce the half life.

The ability to clear caffeine from the body varies between different people by up to forty times. This is largely dependent upon some genetic aspects of the liver. If you are suffering from the negative effects of caffeine, here are a few things you can do.

References

1. Han W., Ming M., He Y.Y. Caffeine promotes ultraviolet B-induced apoptosis in human keratinocytes without complete DNA repair. J Biol Chem. 2011 Jul 1;286(26):22825-32.