Understanding Caffeine Addiction: Effects On Brain, Free Will And Controversies In Essay.

Freewill and Addiction

Among the most intriguing and challenging aspects of the human drive is addiction and how that addiction leads to behaviours or health tolls that hamper the standard of living. caffeine Remains the most widely used psychoactive stimulant on the planet, yet it has no known negative side effect Despite this, little research seeking to explore caffeine addiction have been conducted. Caffeine is a Central Nervous stimulator (CNS) that can help  focus, raise  metabolic activity, and bring improvement in the  moods. Several individuals believe they require coffee in the mornings to enhance attentiveness and willingness to work through the day.   In the U.S, well over 90percent of individuals habitually consume stimulants (soda. espressos, tea) with an average of milligrams each day - the equivalent of two 6-ounce coffee products or five 12 oz soft drink cans. Consuming caffeinated drinks is generally safe and innocuous, nevertheless, addictions may develop once the desire for caffeine shifts from a relaxing drink to a daily requirement which may in turn affect freewill (Cox, Klinger & Fadardi, 2017) 

Individuals grow enamoured with multiple kinds of consumption and activities, which may be harmful. Dependency has indeed been known to harm one’s personal wellness and lifespan, to destabilize and ruin intimate relationships, to bring financial devastation, to entangle users in legal issues, including incarceration, and also to wreck potential professions. Distinct addiction theories bring differential perspectives on the action’s vs the underlying factors. Volitional concepts of addictions can be classified into two parts. The first of those think that pleasure performs only a minor part in addiction development and that dependencies are mostly the result of automatic, compulsive actions. This other kind is paradoxically founded on the contrary presumption: that enjoyment or pleasure a substance or action is so powerful that it overpowers the voluntary control system, putting the person helpless to control addicted urges (Baumeister, 2017). 

Caffeine is addicting because of how it alters the brain activity and gives people the attentive sensation they desire. Caffeine is very similar to the chemical adenosine, which is found naturally in the brain. Till the caffeine is digested, adenosine binds to brain receptive nerve cells and creates a feeling of attentiveness and vitality. Whenever these receptors are inhibited, a few of the brain's inherent natural enhancers, like dopamine, get generated and act very efficiently. The physicochemical properties of the brain alter over the period in persons who consume caffeine on a daily basis. In order to preserve homeostasis, neurons will start developing additional adenosine receptors. Since it requires more of such receptors to inhibit the same quantity of Caffeine, resistance develops (Xu et al., 2015).

How Coffee Affects the Brain

Caffeine addiction is common but socially acceptable; even most office that claim they are a drug-free workplace frequently have a coffee maker to allow coffee drinkers to get their daily dose. The risk associated too among most people have been limited to the incidental migraine or withdrawal symptoms due to its unavailability. According to (Baumeister & Nadal, 2017) individuals identify addictions with conduct (particularly habitual behaviour) instead of desire, mostly in understanding that maybe an addict is somebody who executes the troublesome acts on a routine basis instead of desiring those on a daily basis. It may just represent the fact that one can want something without becoming attached to it (Beaumont et al., 2017). Nonetheless, their responses support the theory that dependence is demonstrated when people will continue to partake while expressing a desire to quit (Lang & Rosenberg, 2017). This difficulty especially would be what the user does, out of a plain practical standpoint. Addicts that desire to indulge but are unable to do so do not pose a threat to the community. Another study by (Vonasch et al., 2017) indicated that the majority of individuals relate addictions with the loss of autonomy. Individuals who had ever taken alcoholic beverages on a continuous, daily basis have lower levels of understanding of free will than some others, while those who had stopped the habit had higher levels of conviction. we note that there is debate on the subject of possible action mechanisms which are related to addiction and incentive. Caffeine appears to generate a rise in dopamine at synapse clefts at larger dosages; in lower levels, it appears to improve dopaminergic effects by a process that might entail either a rise inaccessibility or the activation of dopamine membrane receptors. One test measured caffeine "desire," while the other measured caffeine "enjoying." The incentive-sensitization theory (IST) of addictions was used to select the markers "wanting" or "liking” (Berridge & Robinson, 2016)    .In the study, Researchers used implicit-association tests (IAT) upon 24 strong coffee consumers and 32 reduced drinkers. Their study discovered that there had been a strong association among heavy coffee consumers differentiated from minimal coffee consumers by demonstrating higher seeking but just not enjoying coffee the way it is. They went on to say that by consuming coffee on a regular basis, desiring became autonomous of liking. Such tests were commonly used by researchers to eradicate irrational prejudice over a long period of time as well as the IATs do not come without their particular set of controversies, another study conducted by (Arulkadacham et al. 2017) found no such dissociation with the following statements in a 2017 investigation of IST among coffee consumers stating With the release of the ICD-11, the issue over whether some psychoactive chemicals, such as antidepressants and coffee, should be classified as medicines of dependency has resurfaced. Substance need, drug-seeking, and drug intake despite detrimental effects are all important variables for determining whether or not someone is addicted to drugs. Despite the fact that these symptoms have been linked to release of dopamine inside the ventral striatum, this release in the ventral striatum is not a sufficient indicator of a drug's addictive qualities. Considering the parallels amongst caffeine addiction as well as other substance dependencies, some medical professionals question whether it can be classified as a true addiction. The fundamental explanation for this is those other addicting substances, which include amphetamines and cocaine, activate the rewards and motivation-related region of the brain more than caffeine can. Caffeine creates a spike of serotonin and dopamine, and is not a strong enough increase to disrupt the pleasure centers of the brain, as other substances can. Due to this, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) have not officially defined Caffeine Dependency as a Substances Usage Disorder (SUD); nonetheless, Caffeine Detoxification is acknowledged as a clinical disease. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th Revision; ICD-10) was developed by the World Health Organization in 2012 as an international medical diagnostic system. The ICD-10 recognizes the diagnosis of   Caffeine Dependence Syndrome and states it as a clinical condition while defining it as, a great desire to take these drugs, trouble controlling usage, continuing in use despite adverse consequences, a greater priority given to narcotic use than those of other tasks and responsibilities, growing resistance, and even a physical caffeine withdrawal condition are all symptoms of this condition. It was the very first medical organization that identified addiction related to caffeine as a clinical condition.

Conclusion:

The fact that caffeine has indeed been associated with cancer, birthing abnormalities, and cardiovascular diseases for more than three centuries, a clinical study has concentrated widespread attention on caffeinated drinks and coffee since the year 1970. Substance abuse and Addiction have been one of the very serious and difficult issues affecting today, both in terms of the harm which abusers bring upon themselves and, on the society, in terms of studies trying to figure out how people slip into such trappings. Several Strong studies need to be conducted in order to study these behaviors of addiction to form solutions based on pieces of evidence.

References:

Arulkadacham, L. J., Richardson, B., Staiger, P. K., Kambouropoulos, N., O’Donnell, R. L., & Ling, M. (2017). Dissociation between wanting and liking for alcohol and caffeine: A test of the Incentive Sensitisation Theory. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 31(7), 927-933. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881117711711

Baumeister, R. F., & Nadal, A. C. (2017). Addiction: Motivation, action control, and habits of pleasure. Motivation Science, 3(3), 179. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000069

Beaumont, R., Cordery, P., Funnell, M., Mears, S., James, L., & Watson, P. (2017). Chronic ingestion of a low dose of caffeine induces tolerance to the performance benefits of caffeine. Journal of sports sciences, 35(19), 1920-1927. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1241421

  Berridge, K. C., & Robinson, T. E. (2016). Liking, wanting, and the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. American Psychologist, 71(8), 670.   https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000059

Cox, W. M., Klinger, E., & Fadardi, J. S. (2017). Free will in addictive behaviors: A matter of definition. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 5, 94-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2017.03.001

ICD-10 Version:2008. (2022). ICD-10 Version:2008. Icd.who.int. Retrieved 12 March 2022, from https://icd.who.int/browse10/2008/en.

 Lang, B., & Rosenberg, H. (2017). Public perceptions of behavioral and substance addictions. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 31(1), 79. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000228

Robinson, M. J. F., Fischer, A. M., Ahuja, A., Lesser, E. N., & Maniates, H. (2015). Roles of “wanting” and “liking” in motivating behavior: gambling, food, and drug addictions. Behavioral neuroscience of motivation, 105-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1241421

Vonasch, A. J., Clark, C. J., Lau, S., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2017). Ordinary people associate addiction with loss of free will. Addictive behaviors reports, 5, 56-66.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2017.01.002

Xu, F., Liu, P., Pekar, J. J., & Lu, H. (2015). Does acute caffeine ingestion alter brain metabolism in young adults?. Neuroimage, 110, 39-47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.01.046