If you’ve ever taken a break from coffee (assuming you’re a regular drinker), then you can probably recall caffeine withdrawal symptoms like headaches, irritability, and lack of concentration. It’s no secret that caffeine can improve people’s moods, but scientists have long wondered how. Is there a chemical process involved? Or maybe it’s just the simple pleasure of sitting down with a cup of coffee in hand, sometimes with friends, too. In a new study, an international team of scientists are saying it’s the former.
Researchers from Portugal, the United States, and Brazil discovered that mice given caffeine were better able to handle stress than mice subjected to stressful situations sans caffeine. The reason: While caffeine usually blocks adenosine receptors from activating sleep processes, it also prevents the receptors from reacting to, and causing a stress response, including a bad mood, memory problems, and an enhanced susceptibility to depression, the researchers said.
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