Drug tolerance facts for kids

Tolerance is when your body gets used to something, like a medicine or even a food. It means that over time, the same amount of a substance might not have the same effect on you as it did before. Your body adapts, and you might need more of that substance to get the same result.

This happens because your body is very good at adjusting to its environment. When you take a medicine regularly, your body can start to change how it reacts to it.

How Your Body Adapts

Your body can develop tolerance in a few different ways:

• Changing Cell Receptors: Cells in your body have tiny "receivers" called receptors. These receptors are like locks that a substance (the key) fits into to cause an effect. Your body might change the number of these receptors, making fewer of them available, so the substance has less to connect with.
• Changing How Signals Work: When a substance connects to a receptor, it sends a signal inside the cell. Your body can change how this signal is handled, making it weaker or less effective.
• Changing the Receptors Themselves: Sometimes, the receptors themselves can change. They might become less sensitive to the substance, meaning the substance can't "unlock" them as easily as before.
• Changing Opposing Systems: Your body has systems that can both activate and calm down responses. It might increase the activity of systems that work against the substance's effect, making it harder for the substance to do its job.

These changes are your body's way of trying to keep things balanced.