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Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

nature.com

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Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#11

Post by bovermyer »

redoubt wrote: post #9

Medical engineer here; I would suggest anyone whoms interest was caught by the title to read the Discussion, not Abstract. The authors have made good use of the section to broaden their conclusions, answering some of the questions I've observed in this thread. For anyone starting to second-guess their relationship to sleep and caffeine; do note that this is a small-sample study and that more research is needed before…

Thank you for this. I am not anywhere near to a medical professional and can't interpret these results correctly, I'm sure. It's good to have an experienced perspective.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#12

Post by code51 »

Terr_ wrote: post #8
regularfry wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My interpretation of that (especially over a short period like this) is that sleep restriction causes swelling in the grey matter, which caffeine reverses. Interpreted like that, caffeine would be protecting the brain, not harming it.

I think it's far too early to assume assume the "swelling" is a net harm or that preventing it is good in the long run. Perhaps it serves an important protective or regulatory purpose which we haven't yet identified, because we still know so little about sleep and consciousness. An analogy: There are lots of systems in your body that try to prevent and deter you from casually walking on a damaged leg, and we can over…

So it very well could be that thinking on a worn neuron, trying to do memory access on it, might damage it even more (leg analogy)? It could be possible that the "swelling" could be redirecting brain to use other paths but with caffeine you're utilizing a worn-out neuron.

Maybe with chronic deprivation + caffeine habit, you're weakening your cognitive function - repeatedly using a misfiring neuron. At least, with no caffeine, you'd feel your memory is hazy and hard to recall, go to sleep.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#13

Post by redoubt »

bovermyer wrote: post #11
redoubt wrote: post #9

Medical engineer here; I would suggest anyone whoms interest was caught by the title to read the Discussion, not Abstract. The authors have made good use of the section to broaden their conclusions, answering some of the questions I've observed in this thread. For anyone starting to second-guess their relationship to sleep and caffeine; do note that this is a small-sample study and that more research is needed before…

Thank you for this. I am not anywhere near to a medical professional and can't interpret these results correctly, I'm sure. It's good to have an experienced perspective.

I'm happy you found it helpful, medical studies don't pop up all too frequently here at HN so I try to assist when confusion arises.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#14

Post by regularfry »

Terr_ wrote: post #8
regularfry wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My interpretation of that (especially over a short period like this) is that sleep restriction causes swelling in the grey matter, which caffeine reverses. Interpreted like that, caffeine would be protecting the brain, not harming it.

I think it's far too early to assume assume the "swelling" is a net harm or that preventing it is good in the long run. Perhaps it serves an important protective or regulatory purpose which we haven't yet identified, because we still know so little about sleep and consciousness. An analogy: There are lots of systems in your body that try to prevent and deter you from casually walking on a damaged leg, and we can over…

Yes, that's my point. You can read this either way. But we do know that sleep deprivation is harmful, and it's conceivable that this might point to a mechanism by which that harm is caused. Or it might be a defence mechanism which the caffeine is now interfering with, making things worse.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#15

Post by vouaobrasil »

I like caffeine. It's fun to drink a cup of tea or coffee once in a while and feel an extra surge of productivity.

What I don't like is that it has encouraged the grind of people working far longer and harder than they should for no reason except economic gain which is fundamnetally unsustainable. When people feel tired, they should take a break, and not develop a habit of drinking caffeine every day to keeep going. It's an unhealthy society and reinforces the message that economic gain is important above all else.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#16

Post by BossingAround »

Anyone with anxiety or sleep issues should reexamine their caffeine usage. Maybe those problems do not stem from caffeine, but maybe they do. I don't know many people that do not consume caffeine regularly, at least once a day - in such cases, you cannot know whether your anxiety, sleep problems, general tiredness, bad moods, ... are or are not caused by one's caffeine consumption.

Some people swear by drinking a shot of espresso right after dinner, claiming that they can "sleep just fine" (or that it even calms them). It's not whether you can or cannot fall asleep, it's how deep and restorative your sleep is that is important here.

Re: Caffeine suppresses cerebral grey matter responses to chronic sleep restriction

#17

Post by janpmz »

Recently I've learned that half of the people are slow caffein metabolizers. The caffein stays longer in their system and it might negatively affect their sleep. Considering how many people drink coffee, I think a lot of people are affected by this.
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