Since the 1600s when coffee was introduced first into the pharmacies and then the coffeehouses of Europe, users have marveled at its ability to simulate the brain. Initially, it was considered so powerful and hazardous to mental sensibilities that only physicians could dispense it and some wanted it banned for common folk. Today millions of people use coffee to pep up and feel better, and its drug-like effects on the brain are undisputed.
New scientific probes of caffeine activity in the brain find that it is an odd type stimulant. It suppresses "down" brain chemicals instead of releasing "up" chemicals. According to researchers, caffeine works because of its fluky chemicals resemblance to a brain substance called adenosine, secreted by nerve endings to put the brakes on brain cell activity. Caffeine, masquerading as a adenosine, and keeping it from dampening brain cell activity. Thus brain cells remain in a state of excitability. Further, only a little caffeine has an effect. The caffeine in a couple of cups of coffee can knock out half of the brain's adenosine receptors for a couple of hours, say experts. This means it takes only a little caffeine to put your brain on alert, so numerous refills are needless.
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