Does caffeine help in lack of sleep?
Is it possible to resort to caffeine after a bad night’s sleep to counter the negative effects of sleep deprivation on perception and thus avoid mistakes at work, for example?
Researchers at Michigan State University investigated in a recent study whether caffeine has the potential to reduce procedural error rates due to lack of sleep in the workplace. The study was published in the Journal of the English Language.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and CognitionPublished.
Caffeine only helps to an extent
The researchers, led by professor of psychology Kimberly Fenn of the Sleep and Learning Lab at Michigan State University, studied how caffeine helps balance the negative effects of sleep deprivation on cognition. In fact, consuming caffeine appears to help only to an extent.
For the study, more than 275 people were asked to complete a simple attention task as well as a more difficult task that required completing the steps in a specific order without skipping or repeating the steps, the team reported.
“We found that sleep deprivation impairs performance on both types of tasks, and that caffeine intake helped people complete the easier task successfully,” explains study author Professor Finn. However, for most of the participants, there was little effect on performing the more demanding task.
Caffeine does not prevent procedural errors
The expert adds, “Caffeine may improve the ability to stay awake and focus on a task, but it doesn’t do much to prevent the kind of procedural errors that things like medical errors and car accidents can cause.”
Caffeine reduces sleepiness and improves mood
“Caffeine increases energy, reduces sleepiness, and may even improve mood, but it is by no means a substitute for a full night of sleep. Even if people feel that caffeine can help combat sleep deprivation, their performance on tasks is likely to suffer.” This is one of the reasons why sleep deprivation is so dangerous, ”Professor Finn explains in one of them. Press release Michigan State University.
If we find that caffeine significantly reduces procedural errors in sleep-deprived conditions, it would have far-reaching effects on those who perform high-effort procedures on insufficient sleep, such as surgeons, pilots and police officers. Instead, our results emphasize the importance of prioritizing sleep, ”the expert adds. (As)
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This text complies with the requirements of the specialized medical literature, medical guidelines and current studies and has been examined by medical professionals.
important note:
This article is for general guidance only and is not intended to be used for self-diagnosis or self-medication. He cannot replace a visit to the doctor.