The hallmark of the migraine attack is a wave of excitation across the brain quickly followed by a wave of inactivity.
The neurochemical changes associated with these waves cause the blood vessels to narrow in the head. Since a lack of blood-flow in the head can be deadly, our body reacts with a massive blood vessel dilation in response. The heightened activity in your brain means you will have trouble moving, thinking, remembering things, and photophobia. In effect, migraines shut us down until the neurchemical balance is restored.
Sleep deprivation takes a sharp toll on the human brain and body, impairing cognition, motor ability, and mood. Willpower, memory, judgement, and attention all suffer. You drop and bump into things, crave sugar, overeat, and gain weight. You're more irritable, more anxious, overly negative, and more emotionally reactive.
When we have coffee, it gets absorbed in our gut as well as in our bloodstream. As the chemical is soluble in water and fat both, it can easily enter the brain.
Adenosine, a molecule present in our brain which is remarkably similar to caffeine, is responsible for a feeling of tiredness.
Caffeine acts like a doppelganger and is able to fit in the receptors that adenosine fits, preventing any tiredness to occur for a few hours.
The surplus adenosine now floating in the brain signals that adrenal gland to produce and secrete adrenaline, which is also a stimulant.
The chemistry of the brain changes when a person takes a regular intake of caffeine, as it grows more adenosine receptors.
Eventually, it takes more caffeine to feel the effects, and as there are now more receptors, not having a stimulant results in ‘caffeine withdrawal headache’ and other symptoms due to the original molecule connecting to the increased number of receptors in the brain.
I'm extremely pleased to be writing about this topic. It's something I have been paying great attention to over the last 2 years. Brain function has not nearly been discussed enough in the past, however seems to be picking up speed over the last few years.