While coffee, the magic elixir, is often used to counteract lack of sleep, new research suggests repeated caffeine intake may be exacerbating negative changes to the brain caused by sleep deprivation.
Published in June in the Springer Nature journal Scientific Reports, the discovery highlights the complex interactions between caffeine consumption and the brain’s natural reaction to lack of sleep.
Science has already suggested that coffee can help a sleep-deprived brain get by in the moment, even if it can’t help sleep-deprived brains with complex tasks.
The new study employed advanced imaging techniques to observe grey matter responses in the brain to sleep loss and caffeine intake. Grey matter is crucial for processing information, and its response to stimuli can help indicate the brain’s overall health and function.
The research team sought to clarify whether daily use of caffeine could prevent or exacerbate grey matter alterations. They also sought to clarify whether or not the impact on grey matter plasticity depends on individual differences in the availability of adenosine receptors, which indicate sleepiness and are blocked by caffeine.
The research involved a double-blind, randomized controlled trial with 36 healthy adults who were subjected to chronic sleep restriction — five hours of sleep per night over five days. Participants were divided into two groups, one receiving 300 milligrams of caffeine in coffee per day and the other receiving decaffeinated coffee.
In a group that received caffeine, there was a noticeable suppression of grey matter activity in response to sleep restriction. Additionally, in a result the researchers described as surprising, the imaging found an increase in grey matter activity among the sleep-deprived population that was given decaf.
The researchers emphasized the need for future studies on caffeine’s association with grey matter, grey matter plasticity and the A1 adenosine receptors, particularly among people who are deprived of sleep.
It should be noted that funding for the study came from the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC). Promoted under the name Coffee & Health, the ISIC was created by and is financially supported by a handful of the largest European coffee roasting companies, including illycaffè, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lavazza, Nestlé, Paulig, and Tchibo.
Read the full study here.
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