Caffeine, a miracle drug, has been around globally for thousands of years. Society is continuously talking about how addicted to caffeine the American population is, but how exactly does it affect the human body? Caffeine may not seem like it can do anything harmful to your body, but I want to push you to think harder on how much caffeine you consume daily, how it affects your body, and maybe even consider cutting back on your daily intake.
We all know what caffeine is, but if asked to scientifically define it could we accurately do so? Caffeine is an antagonist of adenosine receptors as well as a stimulant. It “renders significant physiological effects on its consumers, and individuals often use it in an effort to boost energy or wake up” …show more content…
A ballpark of the percentage of adolescents and young adults that consume energy drinks and shots would probably sit somewhere between 35-60%. “In 2012, the energy drink/shot market was more than $12.5 billion, a 60% increase from 2008” (Aepli, A., Kurth, S., Tesler, N., Jenni, O. G., & Huber, R., 2015). This market’s net worth is substantially more than it should be. In this paper we will be exploring the effects that caffeine has on the human body. In today’s society, we see children and adolescents consuming caffeine in the form of energy drinks/shots at a younger and younger age than when the products first hit the market. This worries me because society does not know the extensive effects of consuming such high doses of …show more content…
Caffeine being a stimulant, increases the heart rate which in turn raises the blood pressure within our bodies. An easy way to explain what blood pressure is the strength at which the blood is colliding with the walls of the arteries. It may also produce a disturbance in the steadiness in the individual. This unsteadiness can either be very slight or really noticeable to both the individual and those surrounding them.
The next question that we must ask is what is the difference in dependence and addiction? “Today, making a distinction between dependence and addiction, we would argue that, while caffeine has a low potential for abuse, frequent caffeine consumers are caffeine dependent in that withdrawal of caffeine has adverse effects…” (Rogers, P.J., Heatherley, S.V., Mullings, E.L. et al. 2013). Dependence is simply how the body adapts and responds to the (chronic) use of the drug, while addiction is when the individual becomes physically “unwell” upon discontinuing use of the drug and are virtually unable to
We all know what caffeine is, but if asked to scientifically define it could we accurately do so? Caffeine is an antagonist of adenosine receptors as well as a stimulant. It “renders significant physiological effects on its consumers, and individuals often use it in an effort to boost energy or wake up” …show more content…
A ballpark of the percentage of adolescents and young adults that consume energy drinks and shots would probably sit somewhere between 35-60%. “In 2012, the energy drink/shot market was more than $12.5 billion, a 60% increase from 2008” (Aepli, A., Kurth, S., Tesler, N., Jenni, O. G., & Huber, R., 2015). This market’s net worth is substantially more than it should be. In this paper we will be exploring the effects that caffeine has on the human body. In today’s society, we see children and adolescents consuming caffeine in the form of energy drinks/shots at a younger and younger age than when the products first hit the market. This worries me because society does not know the extensive effects of consuming such high doses of …show more content…
Caffeine being a stimulant, increases the heart rate which in turn raises the blood pressure within our bodies. An easy way to explain what blood pressure is the strength at which the blood is colliding with the walls of the arteries. It may also produce a disturbance in the steadiness in the individual. This unsteadiness can either be very slight or really noticeable to both the individual and those surrounding them.
The next question that we must ask is what is the difference in dependence and addiction? “Today, making a distinction between dependence and addiction, we would argue that, while caffeine has a low potential for abuse, frequent caffeine consumers are caffeine dependent in that withdrawal of caffeine has adverse effects…” (Rogers, P.J., Heatherley, S.V., Mullings, E.L. et al. 2013). Dependence is simply how the body adapts and responds to the (chronic) use of the drug, while addiction is when the individual becomes physically “unwell” upon discontinuing use of the drug and are virtually unable to