Who doesn’t like to wake up early and prepare a good coffee to drink first thing in the morning? There are many people who firmly believe that this kind of morning “ritual” gives us a greater boost of energy to start the day, especially because the drink contains caffeine.
But are these effects really the result of caffeine? New research reveals that coffee’s stimulating effect may be merely a placebo and that the simple ritual of preparing the drink would be responsible for the morning sensation felt by many people.
Get a better understanding of this unusual study that promises to “blow the minds” of many coffee addicts.
Photo: Westwing/Reproduction
Does coffee really make us more energized?
The study, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscienceinvestigated the relationship between the feeling of alertness caused by caffeine consumption and the experience of drinking coffee in itself.
Portuguese researchers indicate that the perceived increase in cognitive and motor performance may be a subjective sensation, with no neurobiological correlation.
Individuals who consumed at least one cup of coffee per day participated in the study. They underwent two physical examinations. magnetic resonance imaging: one performed three hours before any caffeine intake and another immediately after drinking a cup of coffee or hot water with the same amount of caffeine.
As for quantities, a standard-sized cup used in the study contained between 80 mg and 100 mg of caffeine. Since coffee was expected to act as a central nervous system stimulant, the scientists predicted that the scans of caffeine drinkers would show greater integration between certain brain regions.
In fact, the default mode network, which deals with introspection and self-reflection, showed lower connectivity after consumption of coffee and caffeinated water, indicating that any intake of the substance facilitates alertness. However, this is where the placebo effect.
Drinking coffee also increased connectivity in the superior visual network and the right executive control network, which did not occur in people who drank only caffeinated water, without the coffee ritual itself.
This suggests that these parts of the brain, related to memory, cognitive control and goal-oriented behavior, need the coffee drinking experience in itself.
In other words, according to the scientific article, if you want to not only feel alert, but also feel more motivated to act at the beginning of the day, consuming caffeine alone will not be enough. This is because the ritual of preparing and drinking coffee is essential for increasing your energy.
Finally, the researchers state that the decaf coffee may have the same desired effects, but this specific phenomenon has not yet been studied in the work for confirmation.
