yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Caffeine 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

(light liquid pouring) (gentle sipping)

[Narrator] For morning coffee to afternoon tea, caffeine is so thoroughly entrenched in our daily routines and has become the world's most widely used psychoactive substance. Caffeine is a chemical compound that stimulates the central nervous system. It accomplishes this by attaching itself to adenosine receptors in the brain. In doing so, it blocks adenosine molecules, which are responsible for slowing down the central nervous system before we sleep.

The result? Adenosine cannot regulate and neurons start firing. This results in a person's reduced fatigue and increased alertness and cognitive performance. Side effects many seek by consuming caffeine. Caffeine occurs naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, cacao beans and some tree nuts. People have been consuming it for centuries.

But daily consumption took off sporadically at different times in different places around the world. Coffee became popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. But cacao was used among early Mesoamerican civilizations hundreds of years earlier. Tea became popular by the 14th century in China during the Ming dynasty, but didn't catch on in Britain until almost 400 years later.

Today, caffeine can be found nearly everywhere and more and more caffeine-infused products are hitting the shelves every day. In the United States, nearly 90% of the population has at least one caffeinated beverage every day. Up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, or about four cups of coffee, is considered safe for an adult.

Too much caffeine for any one person can cause side effects, such as migraines, insomnia, nervousness and muscle tremors. One tablespoon of pure caffeine, equivalent to drinking 75 cups of coffee at once, can have lethal consequences. Due to this risk of caffeine overdoses, in 2018, the United States Food and Drug Administration banned the bulk sale of products containing pure or highly concentrated caffeine.

While caffeine may provide great benefits, such as increased focus, alertness and energy, it comes with considerable risks just like any other substance.

More Articles

View All
$26,000 GOVERNMENT GRANT (Employee Retention Credit)
Why does nobody know about the employee retention credit? I want you to get this money. You’d be crazy not to get this. Instead of the car, it’s cash; it’s your cash you paid this. It pays up to twenty-six thousand dollars per employee that was on the W1 …
Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara on supporting students during school closures | Homeroom with Sal
Hello everyone, welcome to our daily homeroom. Uh, for those of y’all, uh, this is the first time you’re joining us. Uh, this is a live stream we’re doing on a daily basis. Uh, the catalyst was the school closures that are now around the world. Over 1.6 b…
The Market Is About To Go INSANE
What’s up Graham? It’s guys here. So, in the midst of a new variant, a rollercoaster stock market, and the reveal that inflation may no longer be transitionary, there’s a chance that the entire market could soon be preparing for a topic that no one could …
8 Surprising Facts
Hey, Vsauce. Michael here… Coming to you from the Barbican in London. It’s beautiful, it’s like living inside the Regenstein Library. That’s a concrete joke. But, I’ve put together a leanback of videos all around YouTube that I really like, that I host a…
The 'Value Investing' Strategy Explained - The Young Investors Podcast | Episode 1
Hey guys and welcome to our investing podcast! We’re doing a podcast, can you believe it? My name is Brandon, and I’m joined, gonna be joined each and every week by Hamish Hotter. Hello, how’s it going? Oh, I’m going quite well. How are you doing? Yeah…
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: The Investment Opportunity of a Generation
I see AI presenting transformational opportunities. It may be the technology that can bring down the inflation. AI is fundamentally altering the economy and creating a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity. These aren’t my words; this is coming from…