What to do with coffee withdrawal symptoms and headaches? Expert Recruitment

You may also have had the experience of having a cup of coffee a day at work, but getting a headache on weekends if you don't drink it. This may be related to coffee withdrawal symptoms and headaches.

Wang Wei, chief physician of the Department of Neurology at Nanjing Second Hospital, introduced in an interview with the media that there is a substance called "adenosine" in our brain. When it binds to the "adenosine receptor", it inhibits neural activity, causing drowsiness and fatigue. The molecular structure of caffeine is very similar to that of adenosine. After entering the brain, it "competes" with adenosine and binds to adenosine receptors. After caffeine binds to adenosine receptors, neural inhibition is released, and people naturally become excited, and drowsiness disappears, "said Wang Wei.

If caffeine occupies receptors for a long time, the brain will reflexively increase the number of receptors. Simply put, the original 50 receptors have become 100, and the body has developed tolerance to caffeine. You need to drink more coffee to achieve the original refreshing effect, which is why some people drink more and more

Once the body adapts to this high level of receptor quantity and suddenly stops consuming caffeine, caffeine no longer binds to receptors, and the adenosine produced by the body itself will "swarm up" and bind to up to 100 receptors, leading to excessive inhibition of nerves. The result of excessive inhibition is cerebral vasodilation, which can lead to withdrawal reactions such as headaches, fatigue, and decreased mood

So how to avoid or alleviate this withdrawal headache? Wang Wei pointed out that firstly, do not suddenly stop drinking coffee completely. She suggests that long-term drinkers can gradually reduce their daily consumption, such as from two cups to one and a half cups, and then to one cup. Secondly, do not develop the habit of drinking coffee in large quantities for a long time. It is recommended to drink intermittently and in small quantities to maintain a relative balance in the number of receptors. There aren't so many receptors left, so once you don't drink, the withdrawal symptoms naturally won't be so obvious

Source: People's Daily Health Client