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I was really sleepy that I planned to drink coffee. I am not really a coffee addict, I just drink coffee only when needed. But a thought came to my mind “how effective is coffee in keeping us awake?”. So I asked my friend Google bout it.

I came across something from here “http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/8236.php”. Thought I share it to you guyz.

Enjoy reading!

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Many small cups of coffee during the day keeps you awake better than few big cups

If you are a coffee drinker you should consider having lots of little cups of coffee during the day rather than a few big ones if you want to stay awake and alert throughout the day, say experts.

According to scientists at Harvard University, USA, a large cup of coffee in the morning gives you an initial boost that soon wears off. They say lots of small coffees are better at keeping you alert.

You can read about their research in the journal Sleep.

Caffeine interferes with the systems that govern our sleep. Our sleep duration, and when to sleep, is regulated by the circadian system and the homeostatic system. The circadian system detects night from day, it promotes sleep rhythmically, it works with the release of melatonin and some other hormones (our body clock) in a cyclical fashion. The homeostatic system tells us how much sleep we need. In other words, the circadian system tells us when to sleep and the homeostatic system tells us how long to sleep.

The researchers studied 16 men. They stayed in private suites for a period of 29 days. They had no idea what the time was during the experiment.

They were made to live on a 43-hour day schedule. They had to stay awake for 28-hour stretches – the same period some doctors and soldiers have to. The aim was to disrupt their circadian system and enhance their homeostatic system.

Some of the men were given caffeine pills while others were given dummy pills. On waking up they had to take two pills, and then one every hour.

It was a double-blind trial. This means that neither the volunteers nor the researchers knew who was taking the caffeine and who was taking the dummy pills.

They found that the men on the caffeine pills had fewer microsleeps (tiny naps) than the ones on the dummy pills.

The men on the dummy pills were unintentionally asleep for 1.57% of their ‘waking time’. The men on the caffeine pills were awake for 0.32% of their ‘waking time’. The ones on the caffeine pills performed better in cognitive tests.

On the other hand, the men on the caffeine pills felt sleepier than the ones on the dummy pills. This showed that although caffeine can keep you awake, it does not replace sleep – it just helps you stay awake while you build up a sleep debt.

The scientists said that it seems that caffeine blocks the receptors for adenosine. Adenosine is a key chemical messenger in the homeostatic system – in our desire for sleep.

Dr James Wyatt, lead author, said “I hate to say it, but most of the population is using caffeine the wrong way by drinking a few mugs of coffee or tea in the morning. This means that caffeine levels in the brain will be falling as the day goes on. Unfortunately, the physiological process they need to counteract is not a major player until the latter half of the day. While there is no perfect substitute for sleep, our results point the way toward a much better method for using caffeine in order to maintain optimal vigilance and attention, particularly when someone has to remain awake longer than the traditional 16-hour wake episode.”

Experts say that a 20-minute-nap is much more effective than any amounts of caffeine.

• Rakz
  I was moved by this line: Experts say that a 20-minute-nap is much more effective than any amounts of caffeine. hehe..this is applicable to me because I'm not a coffee drinker =D thanks for this post...^^