Are we addicted to coffee or are we addicted to what coffee does for us?

The FDA reports 80 percent of American's regularly drink coffee in a mudane setting. Yet a majority of these 80 percent forget that caffeine is chemically addictive as well as the world's most popular psychoactive drug.

Ditching the routine of having a cup of joe through the day is not the hard part of quitting caffeine, it is the effects we get from caffeine that we just cannot seem to give up so easily. Think about it for a second, we drink coffee in the morning to wake us up, then again during our mid-afternoon slump and then chug down a few for the late night study session because we have to learn a whole course in one night. We can easily break these habits, but the consequences of that is something we have a hard time dealing with.

The brain's physical and chemical structures change over time as a result of significant change. This change is the growth of adenosine receptors on the brain cells. Though caffeine is not adenosine, it is a close resemblance of it, hence why it is able to fit so well in our brain cell's receptors for adenosine.

Since caffeine is able to block the receptors on brain cell's, the body's natural stimulants work more effectively, like dopamine. That is why you don't talk to a non-morning person before they've had their cup of coffee, or else they will be crabby. The surplus adenosine left over floating around in the brain then cues the adrenal glands to secrete adrenaline. You know those jitters you get at 4 a.m. when studying and the coffee kicks in with a second wind of energy? This is that!

Like with any other type of drug or substance, our bodies are very efficient and quick at trying to stabilize itself back to homeostasis from this drug, thus a tolerance is built. We see ourselves having to drink five cups of coffee to get the same effects we did when we drank our very first cup.

It's not that our bodies are just used to the daily schedule of drinking our cup of coffee, we just physically are dependent on a drug that does not have a negative view in our society. Caffeine has health benefits; it is what keeps us up and going through the day and is a weight loss stimulant. So why give up or cut down on something that seems to do wonders? That is because too much of anything good can never be good for you.

Referenced: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/science-n...