Coffee wakes you up, that’s because of the caffeine. A truism, one might think. But a study that Portuguese scientists have now published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience casts doubt on that. They had 47 subjects either drink coffee or swallow caffeine pills. They then used a magnetic resonance tomograph to observe the effects of coffee consumption on the brain.
In both cases, i.e. both after drinking coffee and after swallowing the caffeine pill, regions of the brain were activated that made the test subjects more alert. But only when the subjects actually drank coffee were brain networks activated, which play a role in goal-oriented behavior and in making decisions.
The complete wake-up effect only came about when the coffee including caffeine was drunk.
The effect of caffeine on the body has long been deciphered. And it’s also known that it doesn’t just work in one way.
On the one hand, it stimulates the circulation by promoting the release of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This accelerates metabolism, heartbeat and breathing. Man really wakes up.
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On the other hand, the structure of the substance is similar to that of the messenger substance adenosine. After physical exertion, for example, adenosine causes the brain to send the signal “tired” to the body. Caffeine blocks the receptors for adenosine so that it cannot pass on the tired command. Coffee prevents us from getting tired.
Aroma and placebo also play a role
The scientists also present a hypothesis for their surprising finding. The encouraging and activating effect can therefore best be explained by a placebo effect. We expect coffee to perk us up, and then we will perk up too. It can also not be ruled out that the aromas of the coffee, its smell and taste, have an effect on the brain.
Apparently, despite the thousands upon thousands of scientific studies that have already been carried out on the drink and its ingredients, coffee still holds one or two secrets. And what better way to wake up than by a drink that still surprises scientists.