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Anon has anxiety (thelemmy.club)
submitted 6 months ago by [M] to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 22 points 6 months ago (55 children)

Caffeine is lowkey the most normalised and profitable drug addiction in the world, and it doesn't really even do anything. The whole 'giving you energy' thing is a myth, all it does it make you tired without it. That's why caffeine legally has to be listed as a 'flavouring' on the packaging, despite nobody on earth having a clue what it's supposed to taste like

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  • [–] 27 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    The primary effect of caffeine is to block adenosine from getting to the adenosine receptors, and that hormone is generally associated with sleepiness. So it's kind of like caffeine creates an illusion that removes our awareness of sleepiness.

    However this also has a cascade of secondary effects on the central nervous system that leead to things like blood pressure changes, improved lung function, increased cortisol and adrenaline levels, etc. Taken together, these things quite objectively generally result in greater feelings of alertness and energy. And anxiety.

    As others have noted one case where it can have more of a calming effect is in people with adhd. It should also be noted that overconsumption of caffeine combined with other poor lifestyle choices quickly leads to chronic fatigue system, at which point no amount of additional caffeine is going to continue being helpful and it just becomes a slog of continuing to take it for no other reason than relief from withdrawal symptoms.

    One dose a day is all that should be necessary - ideally taken as early as possible. It should also be noted that for most people in industrialized countries, coffee or tea might be their most significant and pretty much only reliable source of polyphenols.

    And lastly don't forget the most important reason for drinking caffeinated beverages: the pooping!

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  • [–] 19 points 6 months ago (26 children)

    The whole 'giving you energy' thing is a myth, all it does it make you tired without it.

    Absolute nonsense. I don't drink coffee or tea, and if I drink a couple cups of coffee I end up with a hundred more tabs in the browser, two programming projects started and abandoned, a hundred notes tagged and reorganized, and a bunch of unnecessary and vaguely mean comments on Reddit and Lemmy. Possibly also a sore leg or shoulder from impromptu exercise.

    You need to take control of your caffeine addiction.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Personally, I just want to take a nap after drinking coffee.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Check yourself for ADHD.

    One of symptoms is that supposed stimulants have calming effect

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    I'm not sure about caffeine, but amphetamine-based stimulants (adderall, vyvanse, etc) stimulate the production of both dopamine (the feel good chemical) and norepinephrine, aka the anti-adrenaline neurotransmitter. That's why it calms down people with ADHD, our brains don't create or transport neurotransmitters correctly (among other things). It's also why SNRIs are effective for some, they inhibit the brain's reuptake of norepinephrine. I'm personally on both and they help eachother work more effectively.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    https://www.chemistryhelpcenter.org/caffeine/ if you're curious. Caffeine is a really interesting molecule.

    The effect of caffeine is related to its structural similarity to adenosine. Adenosine is a nucleotide and is important for coding genes, but it is also used for energy in the form of ATP and as a neuromodulator and signaling molecule. When the brain is active, it consumes lots of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as an energy source. As the ATP is used it leaves behind a byproduct, AMP (adenosine monophosphate). The longer the brain remains active, the more AMP builds up over time. Specialized adenosine receptors detect the increasing levels of AMP and send a signal that reduces alertness and increases drowsiness until eventually, you fall asleep. While sleeping, the brain has a chance to clear out the AMP and you wake up feeling alert and rested.

    Because of caffeine’s structure, it binds to adenosine receptors similarly to adenosine in AMP. However, when caffeine is bound to the receptor, it doesn’t send the sleepy signal. Instead, it blocks AMP from being able to get to that spot. In this way, caffeine essentially “turns off” adenosine receptors and they cannot tell the brain it needs to rest. The more caffeine you take, the more receptors are “turned off” giving the brain the illusion that the AMP has been flushed out resulting in an alert and rested feeling as if you had just woken up.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    all it does it make you tired without it.

    Maybe if you're already taking it regularly this is true, but we know that it blocks some adenosine receptors, preventing the buildup of adenosine, which is one component in making us feel sleepy.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Yes it makes you feel less sleepy/tired but it doesn’t ’give you energy’ - just tricks the body into thinking it’s less tired than it actually is

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    This feels like grammar nitpicking.

    If someone is feeling sleepy/tired which interferes with them doing whatever, and something got rid of that sleepy/tired feeling, most people would say that thing gave them more energy.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    That's not true. It sounds like you're confusing nicotine with caffeine. Nicotine is often credited with "taking the edge off" when in reality, that "edge" is a result of nicotine withdrawal.

    Caffeine blocks the receptors that react to a chemical the body releases when it's tired. You're right that it doesn't give you more energy, but it does stop you from feeling by tired.

    Out of all the common legal drugs (nicotine, alcohol, THC) caffeine actually provides some of the best benefits with least intrusive drawbacks.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    Making you not sleep isn't really the same as giving you energy, and since most people take it in the morning anyway it doesn't really matter

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (12 children)

    I'll be that guy: SUGAR. Just try cutting it out of your life and tell me we're not all hopeless fiends.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (9 children)

    If you cut out sugar completely, your brain/central nervous system/red blood cells would break down.

    We definitely consume too much sugar, but caffeine is not needed for anything.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    False. The liver can synthesise over 100 grams of glycose per day, enough for the brain and the rest.

    It's hard and crashy to withdraw from sugars, and it's hard because it's in all processed food and wherever they can stick it, but you can absolutely do it.

    But if you pull through you'll feel way better because the body upregulates the fat to atp cycle instead of using sugar, so instead of getting hungry all the time when the body needs energy (and you are supposed to eat a donut) it just uses fat from our fat cells.

    And if you eat a lot of sugar, as sugar is toxic to the body, it's used up ASAP and triggers insulin spikes etc. not exactly good for you in the long run.

    Now, I guess you should try to figure out a good diet around all this of course, but sugar is just a toxic drug.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    The sugar reserves in your liver are like a last resort of your body when it can't burn any carbohydrates in the cells. As a type 1 diabetic I can tell you that you shouldn't fuck with that at all. Messing up your hormones (like insulin) is a really bad idea. Apart from that we obviously consume too much sugar. When your liver dumps all the sugar it saved up it also dumps a heap of the shit it is supposed to filter out. When you get hypoglycemic and your liver takes over, you gonna have a really bad time. When your body burns fat it produces Ketone, which is similar to acetone (or nail polish). In small concentration that's not a concern, but in higher concentration, like when you don't consume any carbohydrates, it fucks you up big time. Ketone is the reason why diabetics get blind, lose their legs and develop nerve damage.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (3 children)

    Sugar is only toxic when you get it from refined sources. When you consume whole, intact foods, in a balanced diet, sugar is totally fine and literally our primary fuel source. Our metabolic system prefers sugar as fuel so greatly that it 1) will use it over fat if available, and 2) will break down proteins in the body to get more glucose if deprived of it.

    How's that acetone breath by the way?

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    well caffeine mostly makes me pee. it's a diuretic which means it makes you pee. that's the thing it's most effective for for me. other side effects include having an easier time shitting because it increases bowel movements. apart from that it is a mild stimulant that maybe makes me a bit more creative. i've observed it a couple of times but it's inconsistent.

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