Adenosine on the common path of rapid antidepressant action: The coffee paradox
by PaulHoule on 12/5/2025, 10:10:50 PM
Comments
by: k1musab1
On chronic coffee consumption: "One meta-analysis found that RR coffee 0.757, RR caffeine 0.721 (12). Another one found RR 0.76, with an optimal protective effect at ∼400 mL/day (13). In comparison to many drug treatments that have an effect size in this range, this is not a small effect size. A risk reduction of 20 to 25% is quite impressive."<p>As if I needed another reason to drink coffee.
12/6/2025, 12:26:03 AM
by: MilkyWayMasta
"The mechanism of action of ketamine primarily involves modulation of mitochondrial metabolism as opposed to NMDA receptor antagonism"<p>More evidence for Chris Palmer's 'Metabolic Theory of Mental Disorders'
12/6/2025, 12:50:28 AM
by: UniverseHacker
I never knew that “acute intermittent hypoxia” was a known treatment for depression, but I’ve found both freediving and Wim Hof breathing to be effective at treating my depression- however never the two at the same time as that is extremely dangerous.
12/6/2025, 1:26:15 AM
by: exmadscientist
This appears to be some kind of AI-slop rapid response to a piece of actual research (over at <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09755-9" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09755-9</a> ). I don't mind discussing that, but this piece should never have been published. Just look at Figure 2 if you don't believe me, or the publication timeline.
12/6/2025, 12:46:19 AM
by: liamwire
It'd be extraordinary compelling to genuinely have a unified mechanism to explain depression treatments, but I am not qualified to make heads or tails of the research. Wondering what the take of those with relevant experience is on this?
12/6/2025, 12:09:51 AM
by: georgemcbay
Wholly anecdotal, but as a 52 year old nearly-lifelong caffeine (ab)user I quit this year and the withdrawal period was horrendous -- not for the headaches everyone knows about (they were bad but only lasted a couple of days) but for the somewhat extended depression/anhedonia which I had never really experienced before.<p>I was worried during that stretch of time that maybe the caffeine had been masking some underlying depression I already had, but a couple of weeks in it passed, so I think my brain just needed to rebalance itself to the new caffeine-free reality.<p>I'm glad I quit (less anxiety, better sleep, I'm finding it a lot easier to eat healthy while not buzzed on caffeine all the time, and the depressive episode was temporary) but going through that makes it pretty easy for me to believe caffeine can have rather powerful effects in this area.
12/6/2025, 4:16:56 AM
by: aguynamedben
TIL coffee is extra good for your brain
12/6/2025, 12:24:41 AM
by: gatane
Nice read, I've been wondeling if coffee really had an effect on mental health too
12/6/2025, 12:24:43 AM
by: wslh
It seems that a session like 10×100 m sprints with <90 seconds of rest produces a metabolic pattern very similar to acute intermittent hypoxia, short intense bouts with incomplete recovery. Am I thinking about this right?
12/6/2025, 12:49:27 AM
by: ipnon
This also helps explain why extremely early waking or late sleeping is common in depression.
12/6/2025, 12:29:54 AM