How does Caffeine affect my Body and Skills?
By: James Broussard
Project Question
My question I based my project on was “How does Caffeine affect my body and skills?”.
Hypothesis
I hypothesize that the caffeine will not majorly affect my body.
Research
During my research, I found caffeine is the main ingredient in conventional coffee, a popular
breakfast beverage. Morning Coffee is usually accompanied by an omelet or whatever you have
for breakfast. But what is caffeine? Thanks to my research on a variety of sites listed in my
bibliography, I now know how caffeine works. Caffeine has the same structure as adenosine, a
chemical in your brain. Adenosine is a chemical that makes you feel sleepy. The receptors
process the adenosine letting you feel sleepy. Caffeine blocks the receptors, so you do not feel
the effects of the adenosine right away, but the caffeine effect does not last forever. When the
caffeine is absorbed completely, all the adenosines built up rushes in, so you instantly want to go
asleep. During the afternoon, when the morning caffeine starts to dissipate most people will
either take a nap or drink more caffeine like soda; although, soda has more sugar than the
average cup of coffee. Adenosine effects will end when the adenosine receptors absorb all the
adenosine. Even though up to 400 milligrams of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most
healthy adults, which, is about four cups of brewed coffee. Sometimes people can drink four
cups of coffee before lunchtime.
Experimental Plan
Materials Needed: Paper, Pen, two 160-150pc Lego sets that look similar, a computer, a
stopwatch, and three20oz. Bottles of Coke-cola© and three13.7oz. Starbucks Vanilla
Frappuccino©
Step One: For more accurate results, have two weeks without caffeine before starting the
experiment.
Step Two: Set up a chart as pictured below.
Lego ©
Test
Subway
Surfers©
Trivia
No Caffeine
Coca-Cola©
Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino©
Step Three: Take out both Lego sets, separate both into piles containing only that set’s pieces.
Step Four: Take the first Lego set before starting to build it have another person start the timer
when you are done have the person stop the timer then write the time under Lego©.
Step Five: Play Subway Surfers on your phone or the computer. Before you start have someone
start the stopwatch. Write the time under Subway Surfers©.
Step Six: Look on the browser on your computer for Superhero silhouettes. Same as before
having someone start the timer. Before you start then stop when you are finished. Write your
time under Trivia.
Step Seven: Repeat Step Two, Three, Four, and Five. Before the experiment, each participant
must drink one 20oz Coke-Cola bottle or 13.7oz. Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino© before
starting any of the caffeine experiments. Make sure to wait a day between each test.
Procedure
When I had first started this experiment, I had thought that this would be a very odd experiment.
I had found some odd aftereffects because twice during this experiment I had fallen asleep easier
than usual. Another thing I found is that during the Coffee Lego experiments I started to get
anxious. I had to restart the Lego sets© because I had lost pieces and spent hours searching for
them. I will admit I had not felt many differences in No Caffeine, Coca-Cola©, and Starbucks
Vanilla Frappuccino©.
Present Data
Test
No Caffeine
Lego ©
00:25:45
Subway Surfers©
00:09:00
Trivia
00:03:45
Coca-Cola©
00:20:48
00:04:23
00:04:28
Starbucks Vanilla
Frappuccino©
00:18:40
00:01:36
00:04:34
Conclusions
Well, my hypothesis was very wrong after looking at my graph I can temporarily conclude that
Caffeine will raise one’s alertness and focus but some aftereffects are increased tiredness and a
need for water. Though I must make aware that this might not be very accurate due to the control
group is No Caffeine and the Testing Group is only one guy. I will most likely elaborate on this
project next year. But I can conclude that it helps focus and speed but also makes one very
anxious under pressure.
Bibliography
“Coffee: Health Benefits, Uses, Side Effects, Dosage & Interactions.” RxList, 17 Sept. 2019,
www.rxlist.com/coffee/supplements.htm. M
Spritzler, Franziska. “9 Side Effects of Too Much Caffeine.” Healthline, 14 Aug. 2017,
www.healthline.com/nutrition/caffeine-side-effects.
“The Complete Guide to Starbucks Caffeine.” CaffineInformer, 1 Jan. 2021,
www.caffeineinformer.com/the-complete-guide-to-starbucks-caffeine.
“Caffeine for Your Health — Too Good to Be True?” AARP, 1 July 2020,
www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-10-2013/coffee-for-health.html.
Nichols, Hannah. “What Does Caffeine Do to Your Body?” Medical News Today, 16 Oct. 2017,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285194.