Explain how caffeine exerts its action on the brain
It is with no doubt that caffeine is among the nervous system stimulants that is widely consumed by people globally. It has three mechanisms by which it acts on the central nervous system. When caffeine gets concentrated in the brain on high levels, it enhances the mobilization of intracellular calcium together with the inhibition of specific phosphodiesterase. It leads to an increase in energy mentalism in the brain and reduces blood flow to the brain at the same time (Huang et al., 2017) . This leads to the activation of noradrenaline neurons that affect the release of dopamine. Most caffeine effects make the methylxanthine to act on serotonin neurons. The effect of mathylxanthine is what interferes with coordination, learning, memory and the general body performance. This enhances the effects of sleep and anxiety.
What are caffeine’s withdrawal symptoms?
Individuals who discontinue using caffeine after a regular period of consumption face a condition known as Caffeine withdrawal (Mills, Dar-Nimrod & Colagiuri 2017) . The commonly known symptoms include headache which is a result of reduced blood flow to the brain caused by constriction of blood vessels in the brain. Eliminating caffeine from the blood system leads to fatigue and drowsiness due to the fact that it increases alertness and reduces fatigue by blocking receptors of a neurotransmitter that makes one feel worn out (Pickering & Kiely, 2019) . It leads to anxiety, difficulty in concentration, depression, irritability, tremors and low energy levels among other symptoms.
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What are the concerns about high caffeine consumption during pregnancy?
There are potential risks associated with caffeine when it is consumed during pregnancy. This is because the metabolism ratio of caffeine is slow in pregnant women than other individuals. It takes a long time before it gets eliminated from the bloodstream (Jahanfar & Jaafar, 2015) . It can affect the baby’s wellbeing if it crosses the placenta and finds its way in the baby’s bloodstream. High intakes may lead to the risk of miscarriage. Intake of caffeine may lead to low birth weight. The effects caused to pregnant women however remain unclear.
References
Huang, W., Cane, M. C., Mukherjee, R., Szatmary, P., Zhang, X., Elliott, V., ... & Booth, D. M. (2017). Caffeine protects against experimental acute pancreatitis by inhibition of inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptor-mediated Ca2+ release. Gut , 66 (2), 301-313.
Jahanfar, S., & Jaafar, S. H. (2015). Effects of restricted caffeine intake by mother on fetal, neonatal and pregnancy outcomes. Cochrane database of systematic reviews , (6).
Mills, L., Dar-Nimrod, I., & Colagiuri, B. (2017). Effect of genetic information and information about caffeine content on caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Scientific reports , 7 (1), 1-9.
Pickering, C., & Kiely, J. (2019). What should we do about habitual caffeine use in athletes? Sports Medicine , 49 (6), 833-842.
