MadSci Network: Medicine |
Question: How and why does caffeine tolerance arise? From: jess Grade: 10-12 City: London, State/Prov.: Surrey Country: England Area: Medicine Message Hello jess. Caffeine intoxication has been thoroughly studied by scientists and they have come to the conclusion that consumption of 350/gm/day of caffeine can cause addiction. In an experiment performed, a number of persons were divided into two groups. One was given caffeine and the other place-bos. The ones given caffeine were addicted to it and developed a tolerance. After a few months, the dose was switched. The addicted people showed signs of caffeine addiction like headache, etc due to the effects of the caffeine. However, this was not observed in case of the place-bos. This experiment proved that the addiction caused is directly related to the caffeine and not a psychological problem like ‘I got addicted because I know that I am taking caffeine.’ How the tolerance is caused is still a mystery because the effect of caffeine varies from person to person and to make things worse also depends upon the time of the day it is taken, the mood of the person, etc. It just can be said that tolerance to caffeine is like the body getting ‘used to’ it and not doing anything against it. The tolerance part is directly related to how the CNS (Central Nervous System) functions to do so. As far as I can say is our body has its way of adapting to the environment. For example, if you go to a place where there is a strong smell. First you will be able to smell it. If you stand there for 2 or 3 minutes, you will find that the smell is no longer there. Does this mean that the smell has gone? NO. it only means that your body has got adapted to it. Hence, though your nose is picking up the smell, your brain is not considering it as a primary issue. Similar is the case with caffeine or for that matter any other drug. Well that’s all. You may check out the following two links. They have nicely compiled information about effects of caffeine. http://www.xs4all.nl/~4d avid/caffeine.html http://w ww.caffeinedependence.org/caffeine_dependence.html From, Abhishek Dey Das. Bholananda National Vidyalaya (Sc section). Homepage: http://deydas.co.nr
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Medicine.