This is what's left of a heart wrenching lifeless lollipop, left in the corner of my room... god knows how it ended up there.
Didn't get up to much today, woke up kinda late in the afternoon or as I prefer early evening and just stumbled across perhaps the best picture in existance on the internet as we know it.Well one things for sure is I tend to visit the toilets quite often than usual in the morning's at TAFE. Another good thing, atleast I'm not on a 'pill'.1. What Caffeine Gets Up To In The Body
Caffeine is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream
from the gastro-intestinal tract. It reaches maximum concentration within about
an one hour. The blood distributes it throughout the body. It even manages to
pass through the blood-brain barrier.
The half life of caffeine in the
human body varies between 3 to 7 hours. Throughout the body it increases
metabolic rate by around 10%. Females metabolise caffeine 20-30% more quickly
than males. However, it will take women on "the pill" twice as long to
metabolise caffeine as women who are ovulating.
Early experiments showed that low concentrations of caffeine may produce small decreases in heart rate, whereas higher concentrations may make the heart beat abnormally fast.
In the brain it constricts the cerebral blood vessels. If you're used to drinking
several cups of coffee a day but then you quit, those blood vessels will dilate,
maybe enough to give you a powerful headache. It's one of the best known
withdrawal symptoms.
Many people know that caffeine is a strong diuretic - it makes you urinate more than usual. Apparently this is due to increasing the blood flow through the kidneys.
It can produce insomnia - delaying the onset of sleep and reducing total sleeping time. It has a small effect on respiration by increasing blood flow through the lungs and increasing the supply of air by relaxing bronchiolar and alveolar smooth muscle. That's why it's proving effective in treating the breathing problems of some prematurely born infants.
Some people experience tremors after drinking coffee and tea.
That's thought to be due to over-activation of the central nervous system.
5. Sobering Thoughts About Caffeine
"And I'd better have a big cup of extra strong black
coffee to get me past the breathalyser."
Unfortunately, this is one of the most enduring myths about caffeine. True, it may manage to puncture that aura of numbness and make you feel a little sharper but it's no better at sobering you up and lowering your blood alcohol level than a glass of water.
On the other hand caffeine is a good friend the morning after. Alcohol can give you a thumping headache by enlarging cranial blood vessels. Caffeine constricts them and so may bring some relief from the hangover blues. That's why it's an ingredient in some over-the-counter pain killers.
