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What Your Morning Coffee Does to Your Brain
Despite being one of the most popular drinks, few of us really understand how our morning coffee and the caffeine it contains affects our brains.
Between sixty and seventy percent of Americans drink coffee daily. If you include all caffeinated beverages, that number goes up to eighty-five to ninety percent.
This alone easily makes caffeine the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in America. But what exactly is caffeine? Why is it found in coffee and tea? And most importantly, what does it do to us?
What is Caffeine
Caffeine is considered a Central Nervous System stimulant. Within this category, it belongs to a group known as Methylxanthines, which also happens to contain theobromine, which is found in chocolate.
Of course, being a stimulant, caffeine is known for inducing wakefulness and alertness, but how does it actually go about this?
Why Caffeine Makes You Feel Awake
To really understand this, you have to understand the neurotransmitter adenosine.
Adenosine is one of the ways your brain keeps track of the last time you slept and, by proxy, when it's…
