After a bad night, it’s a more than helpful remedy: to take some caffeine to stay as awake as possible. While relying on caffeine to spend the day is not always the solution, according to a new study by researchers at Michigan State University’s Dream and Learning Laboratory (MSU) in the United States.
These studies have evaluated the effectiveness of caffeine to help counteract the negative effects of sleep deprivation on cognition and have found that its effect cannot be trusted to be able to spend the day with an adequate alert level.
The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, evaluated the impact of caffeine after a night of sleep deprivation. More than 275 participants were asked to complete a simple care task, as well as a more complex one, which required completing tasks of a specific order without skipping or repeating steps.
We found that sleep deprivation harmed performance in both types of tasks and that taking caffeine helped people perform the easiest task. However, most participants had little effect on performance in the task of maintaining the place, explains one of the authors, associate professor of psychology Kimberly Fenn, in statements collected by Europa Press.
With Limitations
This stimulant has its limitations: Caffeine can improve the ability to stay awake and focus on a task, but it does not do much to prevent the type of procedural errors that can cause things like medical errors or car accidents.
The researcher stresses that lack of sleep is a widespread problem in today’s society, which has intensified during the pandemic. The constant lack of proper sleep not only affects cognition and alters the mood, but it can ultimately take its toll on immunity.
Fenn recalls that caffeine increases energy, reduces drowsiness, and can even improve mood, but it does not replace a full night of sleep at all.
Even if people may feel they can fight the lack of sleep with caffeine, their performance in high-level tasks will probably continue to be affected. This is one of the reasons sleep deprivation can be so dangerous, the researchers point out.
The expert emphasizes the study’s results and says they are practically relevant: “If we had found that caffeine significantly reduces procedural errors under sleep-deprived conditions, that would have broad implications for people who must perform high-risk procedures with insufficient sleep, such as surgeons, pilots, and police officers. But instead, our findings underscore the importance of prioritizing sleep.”
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