Sensitivity to caffeine varies among individuals. Some people can drink liters of coffee without having difficulty falling asleep, while others limit their consumption until late in the afternoon. What are the factors that can influence this sensitivity?
Extracted from coffee, tea, cola or even mate, caffeine is present in many widely consumed drinks. Its stimulating effects are not trivial, with a form of individual sensitivity. Based on what? According to theFrench Food Safety Agency (ANSES), caffeine acts on our body “ by countering the sedative effect due to the activation of certain receptors present in the brain ».
It will therefore increase our alertness during the hours following its consumption, with a potential impact on our sleep, between delay in falling asleep and reduction of time and/or its quality. So much so that some people see their night seriously affected by even the slightest drop of coffee swallowed after 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.…
Because the effects appear to vary greatly from one person to another. And for good reason, depending on the case, the metabolism of caffeine can be slowed down. In broad terms, this means that it will therefore stay longer within our body with, consequently, effects which will be amplified. Different parameters can be the cause of this slowdown, such as:
- state of health: liver diseases, psychiatric diseases, high blood pressureurinary and fecal incontinence and even ulcers – in certain conditions, the metabolism of caffeine is thus impacted;
- age: authors show that older people eliminate caffeine from their body more slowly than younger people. The reason would lie with some enzymes of foie which metabolize caffeine and which, with age, become less efficient;
- factors genetics : studies suggest that genetic variation – of receptors of embarrassed ADORA2A – could determine individual sensitivity to the effects of caffeine on the sleep.
Café-cigs, the infernal couple!
As for smoking, it would also influence the metabolism caffeine, not by slowing it down, but by speeding it up. This time, a protein named CYP1A2 would be involved. Incidentally, studies report a correlation between cigarette consumption and coffee consumption: when the first increases, so does the second!
In all cases, as recommended by Dr Elizabeth Ko, Eve Glazier of University College of San Fransisco (UCLA), « lhen a person becomes sensitive to caffeine, it may be necessary to rethink their consumption to avoid unwanted effects. To manage caffeine sensitivity, try limiting yourself to one cup per day ».
