Caffeine
What percent of Americans drink caffeine daily?
80%
What are neurotransmitters?
The chemical messengers of the body/brain
What are Benzodiazepines commonly used to treat?
Anxiety, seizures, and insomnia; they are also used for muscle relaxation, and to treat depression.
What percentage of adults in the U.S. use cannabis products today?
13%
Name of the molecule that caffeine blocks, the same molecule that is fired when you get tired
Adenosine
Long time alcohol use impacts this chemical's levels in the brain
Dopamine
How do Benzodiazepines function?
By increasing the levels of GABA in the brain
What are some of the medicinal purposes for which marijuana is used?
Marijuana is used for medicinal purposes to treat muscle spasms, pain, nausea, and vomiting.
Name the 3 most common caffeine withdrawal symptoms
Nausea, fatigue/drowsiness, headache
Excessive alcohol consumption can change the ________ _______ of the body
Circadian rhythm
Name some commonly used benzodiazepines.
Alprazolam (xanax), clonazepam (klonopin), diazepam (valium)
What occurs in addictive use of marijuana?
Compounds in marijuana bind to the brain’s cannabinoid receptors, triggering dopamine release and resulting in a high.
What does the brain do that causes people to build up a tolerance to caffeine
Creates more adenosine receptors, requiring more caffeine to be consumed
Name the purpose of PER2 or POMC
PER2: Biological clock in the body
POMC: Stress-response system
What occurs in the addictive use of benzodiazepines?
In addictive use, excess dopamine is released without regulation.
In studies of the epigenetic impacts of marijuana, what are some of the effects that were found to occur in addictive usage?
Chromosomal abberations; DNA damage.
What do the adenosine receptors do which eliminates the caffeine addiction and how long does this take?
Adenosine receptors decrease and reset to their base level, this takes 7-12 days
Alcohol stimulates a release of dopamine, what does this do to a person who is drinking/drinks a lot?
Makes them crave alcohol more
Explain the discussed epigenic impact of benzodiazepines.
Benzodiazepines induce adaptive changes in gene expression, particularly brain reward regions. These neuroadaptive changes are critical in terms of the increasingly possibility of relapse in addictive behaviors.
By what means does DNA damage increase exponentially?
DNA damage increases exponentially relative to the quantity of smoke inhaled.