Caffeine and Sleep Deprivation: Pros and Cons for Tired Students

Are you tired and having trouble paying attention in class? Focusing on tasks at hand? Or just completely being overall unproductive? The average college student is deprived at least two full hours asleep each night according to “College Tidbits” a website designed to promote healthy lifestyles and productivity in daily college life. These results were pooled from multiple surveys done over hundreds of campuses throughout the United States. Today, I hope to persuade you to fight the statistics and get those extra two hours of sleep. Do what it takes to get the full seven to nine hours that is suggested by the Mayo Clinic. I will discuss two problems. Why college students are not

There are a few factors that are essential for life such as breathing or eating, but one of the most essential factor is sleep. Even though the amount of sleep people need differs from one individual to another, the fact is that eventually everyone needs to sleep. People know the importance of sleep, but due to the increased workload and the pressure of society people are getting less sleep. As a result, there has been an increase interest on the effects lack of sleep has on the mind especially the memory of a person. Many questions arose about the relationship between sleep and memory due to the fact most high school and college students have become sleep deprived. For example, does more sleep mean higher grades?

In the fast paced life of a college student, it is not uncommon for tasks and due dates to quickly pile up, demanding more hours studying and less hours sleeping. Any amount of sleep deprivation can lead students to consume caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, to help them stay awake and get their work done. According to the University of Michigan (2015), Caffeine acts in the body by effecting the central nervous system and may start to

Caffeine is a psychoactive drug and potentially deadly in large amounts, especially for adolescents (Hershorin, Lipschulz, Schaechter & Seifert, 2011). Caffeine is one the most common energy drink ingredients and one of the most widely consumed substances in the world. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), caffeine is a chemical stimulant compound found in various plants that acts as a central nervous system stimulant. Caffeine is produced naturally and artificially. Caffeine is found mainly in coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, energy drinks and some over-the-counter medications. Due to the increasing demands placed on teenagers today, caffeine is becoming more prevalent in adolescents. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children have no more than 100 mg of caffeine a day due to unknown medical conditions, the fact a teenager’s brain is still in a developmental stage, and the importance sleep plays in the developing brain. Table 1, shows the amount of caffeine for the energy drinks in this report. (Note-this does not include the caffeine from blend ingredients)

students take to get an assignment done or to study for finals. Caffeine can cause sleep loss when

In today’s society, many people go through many days yawning, fighting to stay awake and indulging in many cups of coffee. If you were to ask them what the cause of their restlessness was, the popular statement would be a lack of sleep. However, most would not dare to think that a lack of sleep could cause multiple issues in everyday life. This problem has been seen to peak during the good ole college days. It is hard to imagine that those days of all-night cramming sessions and those late nights partying causing students to be sleep deprived could lead to a variety of problems like stress, long term insomnia, and a weakened immune system.

What is that one thing which is indispensable to student life? Caffeine! As a biochemistry student, I must stay focused in classes to deal with the massive content that I perceive in biology and chemistry classes every day. However, sometimes I consume too much coffee, and it causes insomnia. There was a period that I even scared to go to bed because I did not feel sleepy at all, even though it was midnight already. My circadian rhythm indeed had been messed up. Instead of spending money on coffee, I turned to spend money for sleep aid products. One product that I used to adjust my sleep cycle was melatonin supplement from Costco. This supplement was really effective, so I decided to investigate how it interferes with the body to bring the sleep cycle back to normal.

The primary literature article is titled, Dose–response study of caffeine effects on cerebral functional activity with a specific focus on dependence. This article consists of many parts including an abstract, introduction, materials and methods, and results. The articles aim is to explain the physiological functions of caffeine and how it affects the brain. The language used in this article is very specific and scientific. It consists of very precise word choice and both quantitative and qualitative information. In the introduction, this article mentions that the average daily caffeine consumption for all adult consumers and from all sources reaches 2.4–4.0 mg/kg for a 60–70 kg subject in the United States, UK and Canada (Nehlig and Boyet, 2000). This excerpt from the

Given the thought of Middle Tennessee State University’s final exams are in five weeks makes most if not all students anxious. Procrastination begins, stress rises, and sleep decreases with most students. According to Brown University, “In a 2001 study, only 11% of college students have good quality sleep, and 73% have occasional sleep problems.” This means almost three out of four quarters of college students have sleeping problems such as insomnia. However, sleep is very important to the human body mentally and physically. When sleeping, the human body feel refreshed because the brain is working less and relaxes the muscles. Nevertheless, there will still be sleep deprivation, but it can lead to fatigue, irritability, and memory problems (Bernstein 147). As a college student sleep more, the grade point average, memory, and immunity will increased. The solutions to sleeping more are time management and a nightly routine.

College students are some of the most active and stressed individuals in today’s society. Social pressures and scholastic achievement keep this population at a constant state of exhaustion. College students are apt to put sleep at the bottom of their to-do lists without giving further consideration largely due to full schedules. College students often do not understand the importance sleep has for their mental, physical, and overall health. Individuals in this age group require around nine hours of sleep in any given night, but most students report they only receive between seven and eight hours of sleep (Forquer, 2008). According to a survey by the American College Health Association that was distributed to 33

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

Spriet and Graham,"Caffeine and Exercise Performance”, point out their research on overuse of caffeine. Drugs contain caffeine can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, cramps, insomnia; palpitations should be used in accordance with the prescribed dose. Caffeine effective strengthening of intellectual clarity, and improve thinking ability through blockade of receptors which perform functions adenozyn inform the body needs to sleep. In addition, caffeine also changes some biochemical processes in the body, 2 cups of strong coffee can increase three times the amount of adrenalin in the blood, at the same time accelerate the respiratory rhythm. Caffeine also increase dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers in the brain, makes people

Caffeine can increase mental alertness at work or while studying which can also enhance performance on certain mental tasks.

Ever stay up late studying for a test or exam and wake up exhausted? Or just experienced a long day and need an extra boost? Many people believe caffeine is the answer to anyone’s drained state of being. Healthline.com explains that, “Caffeine reaches your brain quickly and acts as a central nervous system stimulant.” Caffeine is commonly referred to the most widely used drug on the planet, so the next question is which caffeine-filled product is the most efficient? It is widely debated whether energy drinks or coffee can provide the best balance of caffeine, flavor, and other ingredients, but after researching, I have come to conclude coffee is superlative in all aspects.

Sleep is one of the things that most students can say they do not get enough of. It is a time for us to rest and for a few blissful hours hopefully forget about the stress and worries of school and life. Unfortunately, due to too much work or too much studying to do, often enough, we do not get the amount we need each night to be fully rested the next day. But we have learned to cope with the sleep deprivation by drinking coffee in the morning to wake us up. Even though we are awake, how well can we function throughout the day when we have only had less than five hours of sleep? How much does our behavior change without enough sleep?