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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

#31

Post by lostlogin »

BossingAround wrote: post #16

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 sho…

> Anyone with anxiety or sleep issues should reexamine their caffeine usage.

They should. The relationship between caffeine and mood disorders like anxiety is incompletely understood. Caffeine may help some, particularly at lower doses [1]. However some studies find that the effect on anxiety is minimal or doesn’t occur [2]. Caffeine seems to improve psychological well-being at a minimum [3]. There may be a self-medication element between ADHD and caffeine too, though the data isn’t good [3]. The interactions with medications is also complex and hard to control for due to the large number of caffeine users.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38362247/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10616803/

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8850715/

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

#32

Post by mensetmanusman »

ilaksh wrote: post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

Alcohol reduces functions, caffeine clearly enhances functions. If caffeine was involved in nearly all violent crime like alcohol is, we would think differently of it.

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

#33

Post by hereme888 »

Caffeine, up to a certain daily dose, is associated with long-term cognitive benefits and a reduced risk of dementia.

This study hints that it specifically doesn't benefit gray matter volume during periods of sleep restriction, at least in the short term.

I wonder if substances like Ashwagandha extract or Magnesium L-threonate could mitigate gray matter loss during short term sleep restriction among caffeine drinkers.

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

#34

Post by shrimp_emoji »

velcrovan wrote: post #21
vouaobrasil wrote: post #15

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.…

I think people should be able to do what they want with their time. I don’t think people should have to sell their labor for a wage in order to live. I wonder what happens to your opinions about caffeine in a society where owners have little to no leverage over workers, or where the workers are generally also the owners.

I think people should be able to instantiate super hot anthropomorphic girlfriends of their choice into and out of real life at will. (Me first; I thought it up.)

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

#35

Post by andor »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #32
ilaksh wrote: post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

Alcohol reduces functions, caffeine clearly enhances functions. If caffeine was involved in nearly all violent crime like alcohol is, we would think differently of it.

I would claim that for regular users of caffeine, it merely restores function to a baseline level.

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

#36

Post by newzisforsukas »

regularfry wrote: post #7
Strumpfli wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I concluded as well. What seems interesting is that sleep deprivation alone increased the GM, while combined with caffeine, the effect is reversed. Surprising, since I feel like the general impression on caffeine in media is that it does not harm the brain.

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.

What about the imaging method makes you interpret it this way?

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

#38

Post by shrimp_emoji »

roywiggins wrote: post #27
janpmz wrote: post #17

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.

I suspect I am an unusually fast metabolizer, since I can be tipped over into very nasty withdrawal headaches extremely easily, even when my baseline consumption is a couple of smallish coffees in a day. The only way I've found to fix this is to get almost completely off it, which as you might imagine I find very difficult to do, since I have to step down very carefully.

My withdrawals only kick in on the second day of no caffeine. Also, I feel a cup of coffee on the day I drank it and the day after (with no additional caffeine). :D I guess I'm turbo slow. Although I didn't use to be...

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

#39

Post by austin-cheney »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #32
ilaksh wrote: post #30

I love my caffeine. But caffeine is an addictive, highly profitable substance. So advertising it and trying to promote it as somehow having real health benefits is widespread. I would not be surprised if routine consumption of caffeine was at least mildly detrimental to health. I think some drugs have managed to gain a special place in our society . Advertising and lobbying warps our perception of these drugs. I even…

Alcohol reduces functions, caffeine clearly enhances functions. If caffeine was involved in nearly all violent crime like alcohol is, we would think differently of it.

All stimulants enhance some functions to some degree, so that is a poor metric of value. Cocaine, for example, temporarily boosts intelligence, but consuming cocaine is not recommended.

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

#40

Post by eightysixfour »

austin-cheney wrote: post #39
mensetmanusman wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol reduces functions, caffeine clearly enhances functions. If caffeine was involved in nearly all violent crime like alcohol is, we would think differently of it.

All stimulants enhance some functions to some degree, so that is a poor metric of value. Cocaine, for example, temporarily boosts intelligence, but consuming cocaine is not recommended.

Does cocaine temporarily boost intelligence? I thought it boosted the feeling of being intelligent.
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