Mind Hacks

Hack #92. Make the Caffeine Habit Taste Good

Caffeine chemically hacks the brain’s reward system, boosting the value we give not only to the morning cuppa, but also to everything associated with it.

I couldn’t even begin to write this for you until I’d made myself a coffee. Some days I drink tea, but coffee is my normal stimulant of choice, and a cup of that ol’ “creative lighter fluid” is just what I need to get started on my morning writing.

After you’ve drunk a cup of tea or coffee, the caffeine diffuses around your body, taking less than 20 minutes to reach every cell, every fluid (yes, every fluid ¹ ) of which you’re made. Pretty soon the neurotransmitter messenger systems of the brain are affected too. We know for certain that caffeine’s primary route of action is to increase the influence of the neurotransmitter dopamine, although exactly how it does this is less clear. ² Upshifting the dopaminergic system is something caffeine has in common with the less socially acceptable stimulants cocaine and amphetamine, although it does so in a different way. ³

Note

Neurons [[Hack #9]] use neurotransmitters to chemically send their signals from one neuron to the next, across the synapse (the gap between two neurons). There are many different neurotransmitters, and they tend to be used by neurons together in systems that cross the brain. The neurons that contain dopamine, the dopaminergic system, are found in systems dealing with memory, movement, attention, and motivation. The latter ...