25岁主播头痛到“天旋地转”，一查竟是因为把咖啡当水喝！医生：这不是提神，是透支The 25-year-old anchor had a headache that was so overwhelming that it turned out to be because he drank coffee like water! Doctor: This is not refreshing, it's overdrawn

几个月前，她开始出现严重的头晕头痛症状，发作时感觉天旋地转，直播状态严重受影响，到浙江省中山医院神经内科胡新平副主任处就诊时，胡主任发现她不仅存在紧张性头痛，还伴有明显的焦虑情绪和睡眠障碍。

（图片由AI生成）

（图片由AI生成）

（图片由AI生成）

Xiaoyu (pseudonym), 25 years old, is an e-commerce anchor who works from night to early morning. In order to withstand high-intensity rhythms, she relies on functional drinks and coffee to stay alert for a long time, drinking several bottles almost every day.

A few months ago, she began to experience severe dizziness and headache symptoms, feeling dizzy and disoriented during attacks. Her live streaming status was severely affected. When she went to the neurology department of Zhongshan Hospital in Zhejiang Province for treatment, Director Hu found that she not only had tension headaches, but also had obvious anxiety and sleep disorders.

(The image is generated by AI)

After evaluation, Director Hu prescribed her sedatives and anti anxiety drugs, and provided key recommendations: adjusting her daily routine, reducing the intake of functional drinks and coffee.

Director Hu said that young patients like Xiaoyu are not isolated cases. Many people think that functional drinks and coffee can refresh and relieve fatigue, but they don't know what is happening in the brain behind this "refreshing" feeling.

The illusion of being mentally refreshed:

It's not that my energy has increased, it's just that the fatigue signal has been blocked

To understand the refreshing effects of functional drinks and coffee, one must first recognize a key substance - adenosine.

The longer a person stays awake, the higher the concentration of adenosine outside the brain cells. After binding to receptors on neurons, adenosine produces sedative and sleep promoting effects - the more tired you are, the higher the concentration of adenosine, which is the most basic self-protection mechanism of the brain.

The chemical structure of caffeine is highly similar to adenosine, which can bind to receptors before adenosine, but does not produce sedative effects. It's like a 'fake key' inserted into a lock, while the real adenosine is blocked and the brain cannot receive fatigue signals.

After drinking it, I feel refreshed, not because my energy has increased, but because the fatigue signal has been temporarily blocked. The fatigue is still there, you just can't feel it temporarily.

(The image is generated by AI)

Is drinking more ineffective and stopping more tiring?

The brain is working overtime to produce receptors

Long term intake of caffeine can cause neuroadaptive changes in the brain - compensatory upregulation of adenosine receptors. If you block a portion of the receptors every day, the brain will produce more receptors to maintain normal fatigue signal transduction.

The result is: tolerance formation - previously one bottle could hold for half a day, now drinking two bottles doesn't feel anything.

Once discontinued, all newly added receptors are simultaneously occupied by adenosine, leading to increased fatigue and withdrawal symptoms such as headache, drowsiness, and lack of attention.

What is even more alarming is that the combination of taurine and caffeine in functional drinks significantly increases free radical generation in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which are responsible for decision-making function and memory formation, respectively. Long term accumulation, light rain and day night reversal, sleep disorders, the brain not only cannot be repaired at night, but also constantly forced to be excited, ultimately leading to severe headaches, anxiety, and insomnia.

How much is considered excessive drinking per day?

These types of people should keep their mouths shut the most

Director Hu stated that the daily intake of caffeine for healthy adults should not exceed 400 milligrams, which is approximately equivalent to two large cups of American coffee. Beyond this dosage, the risk begins to manifest.

Research has found that people who drink more than 6 cups of coffee per day have smaller brain capacity and a risk of dementia about 53% higher than those who drink 1 to 2 cups per day. Caffeine has a vasoconstrictive effect on cerebral blood vessels, and long-term high-dose intake may affect the stable regulation of cerebral blood flow.

(The image is generated by AI)

These types of people should be particularly careful:

People with anxiety and insomnia tendencies - caffeine can directly worsen symptoms

People with irregular sleep patterns and long-term staying up late - their sleep rhythm is already disrupted, and adding stimulants will only make the brain more "collapsed"

People who are sensitive to caffeine - if they feel anxious and shaky after drinking a little, it indicates that their metabolic capacity is weak and they need to control it even more

After medication intervention and dietary adjustments, Xiaoyu's headache and dizziness were significantly improved. But Director Hu emphasized that medication only helps during the acute phase, the real core is to return to a regular schedule.

Fatigue is a real signal emitted by the brain, which is carried over by excitatory components, not solving problems, but just masking them. What the brain really needs is regular sleep, balanced nutrition, and moderate activity - there are no shortcuts, and no bottle of beverage can replace them.

Transferred from: Zhongshan Hospital, Zhejiang Province

Source: Voice of West Lake