Most people know that caffeine is a stimulant. Stimulants are drugs that affect the brain’s perception of reality, having the effect of making it feel more awake it actually is.
Caffeine, as most people know, caffeine occurs naturally in coffee. This fact inspires many people to drink this delicious beverage on a daily basis. I am, to a great extent, one such person.
When your body needs rest it releases a compound called adenosine, which then interacts with adenosine receptors in the brain to signal fatigue. If your brain’s adenosine receptors are prevented from “receiving” or detecting this chemical, then it won’t realize that it’s sleepy time.
So we might call adenosine the “Sand Man’s Magic Sleeping Dust” that sends us off to dreamland. To extend this metaphor, caffeine is the mace that we spray into the eyes of the Sand Man to send him running away, screaming in pain.
Note: This is my layman’s understanding of the chemical reaction that makes caffeine “work” based on a conglomeration of free online dictionaries and encyclopedias. If this explanation is blatantly wrong, feel free to tell me. (comment below)
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