Coffee and Your Brain, Middle school

Many adults drink coffee in the morning to wake up. Coffee has a chemical in it called caffeine.

Does the caffeine in coffee give your body energy?

Coffee doesn’t give you energy

Coffee makes people feel awake, yet the caffeine in coffee gives the body no energy. While you are awake, a molecule called adenosine builds up in your brain and tells you that you are tired. Caffeine sits in adenosine’s spots on brain cells and blocks that tired message for a while.

A 3D ball-and-stick model of the adenosine molecule — Your adenoids, at the top of your throat, have the same *aden-* root.

Your word of the day is

uh-DEN-uh-seen

aden-glandfrom Greek adḗn

-os-a kind of sugarfrom German Ribose

-inean ending for chemical namesfrom Latin -ina

A molecule found in all living cells. In the brain, adenosine builds up while you’re awake and helps signal that you’re tired.

A young woman yawning while she works on a laptop at a home desk

Adenosine builds up in your brain while you are awake.

As adenosine builds up, what message does it send the brain?

Microscope image of brain cells (neurons) from a mouse

Adenosine sends its message by fitting into receptors on brain cells. In the video, Raven says caffeine is shaped enough like adenosine to sit in the same receptors.

What happens to the tired message when caffeine takes adenosine’s seat?

A tired woman resting her head on a café table, holding a takeaway coffee cup

Adenosine keeps building up while caffeine sits in the receptors.

What happens when caffeine leaves adenosine’s receptors?

When you drink coffee, caffeine moves from your small intestine into your blood.

The small intestine, where caffeine enters the blood, belongs to the ____ system.

Electron microscope image of cells from normal human blood, including red blood cells

Your blood carries caffeine to your brain and your heart.

Blood carries caffeine around the body in the ____ system.

A steaming cup of coffee on a table indoors

In the video, Raven says coffee is not giving you energy.

What does the caffeine in coffee do in your brain instead of giving you energy?

A digital blood pressure monitor and arm cuff on a white cloth, seen from above

Lesson complete

Today’s word

adenosine