I work overnight shifts (11pm-7am) and take caffeine pills to stay awake. When I get home, even if I take more caffeine I’m sometimes still too tired and fall asleep. Why does it eventually stop working? Is there some sort of chemical limit? Why can’t caffeine replace sleep for longer periods of time (like days on end)?
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The way that I’ve always understood it is that caffeine takes up receptors in your brain that are intended for your natural sleep chemical.
But the sleep chemical builds up in your brain like a pressure and eventually the pressure will get so high that any more caffeine added to the mix simply won’t be able to reach those receptors before the sleep chemical can and your brain will fall asleep
I’m sure other people can add greater detail, or more information but I thought I’d keep it simple (plus I’m not an expert so that’s about the extent of my understanding anyway :P)
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