18/06/2025
Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive stimulant worldwide. A commodity that comes second most traded to oil.
It takes approximately five to seven hours to eliminate half of the caffeine content we ingest at one. For example if you drink a cup of coffee at 19h30, by 01h30 while you are "sleeping", your body, basically the liver is still trying to clean up half of that coffee cup. IF you do manage to "sleep" through this process, the quality of sleep is decreased.
Our body knows how to sleep based on the 24 hour night and day cycle and the levels of a chemical in our brain called Adenosine. Once we wake up in the morning ADENOSINE starts building up throughout the day, until it reaches a critical amount and we given in to slumber.
Caffeine comes along and prevents Adenosine from telling the brain to sleep. HOWEVER, Adenosine is still building up until the moment all caffeine is broken down. The result? sudden fatigue and an irresistible urge to sleep.
Staying awake with coffee through the night working on project or studying for an exam will result in poor performance the following day, poor memory function and shortened attention span.
If concentration is needed late in the evening, a much better alternative is adequate water intake and regular movements for blood circulation.
