If you drank some alcohol during dinner, read this before ordering coffee for dessert.
If you have a couple of drinks during dinner, you may feel that you should order coffee with dessert. What you want: that you get a little drunk and resuscitate.
However, it is not the smartest decision, says Robert Swift, associate director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. Caffeine can fool your brain. Make him think you’re less drunk than you really are, he says.
This is why: as soon as you start drinking , alcohol orders your brain to increase the production of dopamine (the happiness hormone). At the same time, dopamine activates the production of a chemical called cyclic adenosine monophosphate.
Cyclic adenosine monophosphate activates your brain. It makes you feel happier, more talkative and with more energy. To ensure that your brain does not force itself during this time, your body keeps chemicals under control using special enzymes.
But, once you stop, the sedative properties of alcohol begin to take effect. The Alcohol causes the release of other neurotransmitters that are beginning to slow down all your brain processes. You will begin to feel tired and confused, and your reaction time is encouraged, Swift explains.
But, when you add a cup of coffee to the mix, caffeine blocks the special enzymes that control the energy cycle of cyclic adenosine monophosphate. This reinforces the effect that makes you feel good about alcohol and turns off the sedative effect.
So, even when alcohol continues to slow your brain, you still feel more energetic and not so drunk. This can lead you to order another round or even drive.
This is a problem because caffeine conceals the sedative effect of alcohol , but does not reduce the amount of alcohol in your blood, Swift adds. You’re still drunk.
This is not all, the alcohol – coffee combination also gets you in bed and not in a good way. A few hours after you stop drinking, alcohol causes a rebound of energy in your brain, which can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night.
And because caffeine stays longer in your body (about six hours), its stimulating effects will make it very difficult for you to go back to sleep. Also, in the morning you will wake up very tired and more raw than ever, since caffeine, like alcohol, dehydrates you.
The best strategy is to keep drinks and coffee away. However, if you need to finish your dinner with coffee, make it decaffeinated.