Chances are you reached for a cup of coffee early this morning, sighing and groaning. Or that you really needed a cup of coffee during your afternoon slump before you could start that big job. We are often convinced that this ‘miracle potion’ will help us through the big daily obstacles. That may indeed be the case, but that is not necessarily due to the caffeine in it.
The Caffeine Experiment
The experiment compared two groups of people: one group was given a ‘regular’ cup of coffee, while the other group took a caffeine supplement. Brain scans then showed that both forms of caffeine activated the active part of the brain. However, there was one notable difference. The cups of coffee activated the brain areas that make you more productive and focused. This was not the case with caffeine supplements.
So if you don’t just want to be more alert, but can also use a good dose of productivity, you don’t just need the caffeine in coffee, but the whole experience of drinking a cup of coffee. “Certain effects were specific to drinking coffee and arose from, for example, the smell and taste of the drink or the psychological expectation of a cup of coffee,” said postdoctoral researcher Maria Picó-Pérez, who led the study.
Caffeine-free
If caffeine itself is not the cause of higher productivity, does a cup of decaffeinated coffee work just as well? That’s just the question. The social status of coffee probably also plays a major role in this: if you learn from an early age that ‘ordinary’ coffee, that is with caffeine, generates energy, you start to believe in it. That energy boost after your cup of coffee then becomes partly a placebo.
The idea that coffee contains a stimulant ingredient falls away with decaffeinated coffee. That would mean that the psychological expectation of decaffeinated coffee is also a lot lower. On the other hand, chances are you associate drinking a cup of decaffeinated coffee with drinking regular coffee. Perhaps the taste of coffee alone gives you the energy boost you need.
Bron: Sciences
14 July 2023
Read also
2023-07-14 13:20:36
#start #coffee #placebo #effect
