Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article, I'll cover the good and bad reflexes from caffeine.
Many are encouraged to drink coffee to increase blood pressure. This makes some people feel bad.
I explain. Caffeine helps with orthostatic hypotension. This is the low pressure that occurs with a sharp transition to an upright position of the body. Something else similar happens after eating. Then the decrease in pressure will be called postprandial hypotension. Postprandial means "after a meal."
Usually, when a person rises suddenly, his blood rushes from the heart to the legs, and blood pressure decreases. If it were not for the special reflexes, one would faint. But there are those very reflexes that cause arteries to contract and increase pressure.
These reflexes also cause the heart to beat fast and hard. So the heart itself pumps up an additional portion of blood. From all this, blood pressure rises even more, and the person feels normal.
But there are situations when the reflex does not work. Something goes wrong in the body. Like, you know, they hit the knee with a hammer, but the leg does not twitch, because the reflex has not started.
Without a reflex, blood pressure drops, and the person will feel bad. He gets up from the table, and it gets dark in his eyes. This is called orthostatic hypotension.
You can fix this matter if you drink coffee. Coffee stimulates reflexes. It stimulates both good and bad reflexes. Therefore, coffee can be both good and bad.
If people with reflex fainting drink coffee, they will get worse. Reflex fainting is when the eyes darken from stuffiness. So, with such a fainting spell, the coffee will get worse, and darken even more.
And if a person with orthostatic hypotension drinks coffee, he will feel better. The heart may be pounding, but the blood pressure will be maintained.
With different reflexes is it clear?
Check out my articles on caffeine. Everything is very ambiguous there:
The benefits and harms of caffeine
How a cardiologist is wrong about coffee
