How Caffeine Works
This is how it keeps you awake
Ah, caffeine. It’s the one drug you can freely admit being addicted to without any social repercussions. Just imagine if it was anything else. “Ugh, I’m all grumpy in the morning until I’ve had my shot of heroin.” “I can’t get through a workday without my whiskey.” “No worries, boss. I’ll do it after my meth break.” “Hey mom! Come on in! I was just about to prepare myself a fresh line of coke. Do you want some?”
But have you ever wondered how caffeine actually works? What exactly does it do to you to give you that jolt of energy?
Well, it turns out it works the same way no matter how you consume it, whether it’s in the form of a hot beverage, a sugar-laden soda, or (I guess) an enema. Specifically, caffeine keeps you awake by acting as an adenosine-receptor antagonist. Huh? Don’t worry. By the end of this article you’ll perfectly understand what that bit of sciencebabble means.
What’s adenosine?
To understand caffeine, you first need to understand what adenosine is. And to understand adenosine, you need to understand ATP. In fact, you should know about ATP anyway. It’s such an important molecule that biochemists commonly refer to it as “the fuel of life.” So, let’s start with ATP.
