Just smelling coffee could alter your brain.
Sure, we all know that coffee can perk you up when you drink it, but according to research, just huffing some roasted beans can have a profound and measurable effect on how the brain functions. Studies performed on the brains of stressed and non-stressed rats showed that stressed rats had different levels of activity in 17 genes in the brain. Plus, levels of some brain proteins changed in ways that could have a calming effect on stress or have an antioxidant function.
You may experience withdrawal.
“Regular caffeine consumption leads to physical dependence on caffeine, which manifests as withdrawal symptoms when a caffeine user abruptly stops using caffeine,” says Laura M. Juliano, director of Behavioral Pharmacology and Health Promotion at American University, Washington, DC. “A diffuse throbbing headache is a hallmark feature of caffeine withdrawal. The reason for this is that one of the pharmacological effects of caffeine is a constriction of blood vessels in the brain.”
