Who doesn't drink coffee?

As a young college student or maybe even in high school, caffeine was something that helped us get through those long nights of studying. Before our morning meeting, we need that boost to give us that edge. The flavors of drinks that have caffeine are endless and baristas are able to give it extra shots, sprinkled cinnamon and drizzles to make them extra delicious. The effects of that caffeine boost from tea, coffee, energy drinks are immediate and we are almost instantly alert and energized.

Most of us can not go without our caffeine "boost" everyday and at the same time it could be wrecking your sleep at night. So something you need everyday to stay alert is affecting something you need at night to rest and repair you body.

The caffeine in our tea and coffee is blocking the molecule in our brain that tells our brain that its tired. All the coffee and tea lovers who are having issues sleeping should be aware of a term called adenosine.

Adenosine is one of the molecules in our brains that makes us sleepy. There are others that are equally important, but adenosine builds up in our brain as a byproduct of our daily activities and this helps to build what sleep physicians call sleep pressure. The longer we stay awake the more this chemical accumulates and binds to specific places in our brain. These specific places in our brains involve wakefulness. Caffeine molecules are shaped like adenosine and sit in the same brain receptors that adenosine is supposed to sit.

Adenosine is still building up in our system, but we are not getting the signal that we are tired. When the caffeine starts clearing out, the adenosine binds to all those places in our brains that was taken up by caffeine. Instead of a little bit of tiredness we have a crash of fatigue. In a very short time, we learn that another cup will keep us from "feeling" tired. When all its doing is taking the seat of the adenosine receptors. At some point in the day we stop the caffeine journey and begin our journey in dealing with fatigue and what will likely be a disrupted sleep routine.