Caffeine
Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid and it belongs to the group of stimulant drugs, or shortly called stimulants. It is in the form of small crystals and it is a substance that has a bitter taste. Now, something more about the group of medicines this drug belongs to. The group is called stimulants and in some medicine literature is also encountered as psychostimulants. It is so because talking about this group means that we are talking about psychoactive drugs which have the function of improving the efficiency of the human body which means from both physical and psychological point of view.
According to their effects there are two types of stimulants: uppers and downers. The uppers have the function of increasing the level of both physical and psychological activity of the body, and the downers are considered to be their highly effective opposites. These ‘downers’ are also called depressants and are perfect tranquilizers when in a stressful situation or you have issues concerning hyperactivity. The medicines from this group could also be used for the so called recreational use, however, in many countries you would need a written permission by your doctor to be allowed to purchase them because they are also highly addictive.
Caffeine belongs to the group if uppers and is a drug which increases psychological activity and decreases the feeling of being tired. This substance was discovered for the first time by Friedrich Ferdinand Runige, a German expert in the field of chemistry in the remote year of 1819. Caffeine, as we mentioned above, is a substance derived from nature and it is present in diverse quantities in the leaves and beams of many plants and there has the function of a natural pesticide and protects the plants from the various parasites and insects that are feeding on the plants.
Humans take this substance the most often with coffee and other foods and products which contain the kola nut. People are consuming caffeine to increase alertness and stay awake if they are tired. Caffeine is perhaps the only stimulant drug which is legally allowed from around the world and 90 % of the people from Europe and the US practice daily consummations of caffeine. Caffeine has also got the purpose of a diuretic when consumed in normal doses of course because if the daily dose of caffeine is something beyond the limits of what is accepted to be normal, the body becomes immune to this effect.
As for the mechanism of action caffeine as a substance sticks to, we will mention firstly that it acts partially like an agonist and partially like an antagonist of the adenosine receptors. This linking between caffeine and the adenosine receptors has proven to be very successful, mostly thanks to the similar chemical structure adenosine and caffeine have, because the structures of the molecules of the caffeine and adenosine bear a resemblance which is rather striking.
This substance has shown much success in the function it has, and even though one of its activities of course is increasing the blood pressure, which is an expected behavior from a substance that has the ‘upper’ effect, the blood pressure comes to normal for only 20 to 40 minutes after consuming caffeine. However, you must not stick to this and understand it as this substance overdosing will not bring side effects. One of the side effects is the condition of caffeinism which is addiction to caffeine accompanied with other far from pleasant symptoms and the long and regular use might even lead to caffeine intoxication.
It can be consumed naturally by a cup of coffee or tea the herb of which it is made contains caffeine and in the form of drugs which in the market are named CafCit, NoDoz, and Vivarin. There are combinations of caffeine with other alkaloids such as aspirin or codeine known in the market as Exadrin, Levacet, Painaid and so on.