CAFFEINE EFFECTS ON SLEEP

1. CAFFEINE EFFECTS ON SLEEP BY ANDREW MCGRATH & ANDREA DELLA LIBERA

2. Does it really effect your sleep? • The answer to this question is varied from person to person • Several people think that they will sleep less while others are not affected. • When asked, a female nurse from MC hospital said that caffeine does effect sleep, but a male nurse said the opposite.

3. WHAT IS CAFFEINE? It is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid and a stimulant drug that can be found in seeds leaves or fruit of certain plants (coffee, tea, cocoa) or can be handmade.

4. CAFFEINE AND THE BRAIN Everybody knows that caffeine has various effects on the brain: it`s a stimulant, that increases intellectual abilities, but it can also influence people`s mood and affect the ability of sleeping, causing insomnia.

5. BUT… Many experiments have shown how caffeine affects the brain but in real life it seems to be false, because some people can quietly drink coffee or energy drinks without problems, even before sleeping.

6. EXPERIMENT The purpose is to examine the effects of caffeine, to verify if it really affects the ability of sleeping. • Null Hypothesis: Caffeine doesn’t change people’s ability of sleeping • Alternative hypothesis: Caffeine acts as a stimulant and causes insomnia: people can hardly all asleep

7. METHOD Note: we took the experiment during two school nights, so the volunteers could do their routine and go to bed/get up at about the same time both days.

8. We are giving about 80surveys randomly between our senior and junior classes. • We will pick a select 10volunteers to partake in the experiment based on the surveys (5male and 5 female) to be tested for two nights. • The volunteer must then fill out a parent consent form before drinking the energy drink.

9. On the first night we will register their heart rate before they have consumed any caffeine • After their heart rate has been measured the volunteer will then sleep as they would normally. • The second night the volunteers will drink a high caffeinated drink and have heart rate measured.

10. After this they will again go to sleep like they would normally. • Then we will give a questionnaire asking about their previous nights sleep.

11. Interesting Discoveries • We have now 73 surveys completed. • Out of the 73surveys finished, 98% people use their mobile device before going to bed at night. • 8 out of 10 people also said they sleep for about 8 hours every night. • 6 out of 10 people wake up between 6:30 and 7:30 AM. • Just 1 out of 4 people also say they have no difficulty falling asleep on a daily basis. • According to the surveys, the most consumed caffeinated drink is tea, followed by coffe

12. (almost) everybodycheckshis/her social networksbeforegoingtosleepand many (more than 90%) send text messages. • Only a fewuse the mobile deviceto play or listeningtomusic (lessthan 20 people) • Only 13 people declaredthattheynevver drink caffeinateddrinks • About 15 people saidthatthey don’t drink more than 5 caffeinateddrinks a week (and they drink mostly tea, whichisnot high caffeinatedifconfrontedwith coffe irenergydrinks). Discoveries 2

13. voulteers: boysgirls • 1° noyusedtocaffeinateddrinks, doesntsleepmuch (5 h/night) and istired. • 2° sleeps 8 h/night, drinks tea everyday. • 3° drinkscaffeinateddrinkseveryday (light ones), 5 hoursofsleep/night. She’s reallytired • 4° 6 hours per night. Finds hard tofallasleep. Usedtocaffeinateddrinks • 5°8 hours/night. Notusedto caffeine, nottired. • 1° neverdrinkscaffeinateddrinks, isnottired and sleeps more than 8 hours a night. • 2° playsvideogamesevery night and isusedtocaffeinateddrinks:sleepsabout 5 hours/night. Finds hard tofallasleep. • 3° watches tv before sleeping, notusedtocaffeinateddrinks. 8 hours a night. Couldfind hard fallingasleep. • 4° usedto light caffeinateddrinks, sleeps 8 hours a night. Reallytired. • 5° watchesyoutubebefore sleeping, usedtocaffeinateddrinks. Sleeps 8 hours/night.

14. Side facts/effects • weunderstandthat, addedto the effectof caffeine, the volunteerscouldalsoexperience a psychologicaleffet (excitment, anxiety) forbeing part ofanexperiment and drinking the caffeinatedenergy drink. Weknow the volunteers and are abletounderstandhowmuchthis side “effect” couldmodify the results. • All the volunteersuse the cellphonebefore sleeping, and thatcouldmodify the resultsaswellasknowingthatthey are part ofanexperiment. • Videogames are note tohavestimulantseffects, so theyactasanaidto the effetcsof caffeine. Volunteersnotusedto caffeine are more likelytoexperimentitseffetcs.

15. results • Exceptforonevolunteer, wenoticedthatafterdrinking the high caffeinated drink the volunteers’ hearth rate increases. • The timeforfallingasleepincreasesforallvolunteersbut 2. • Only in twovolunteers the timetofallasleepis the same or decreases. • In the first night (no caffeine) only 3 volunteersfoundreally hard tofallasleep, while on the second night (caffeine) 9 out of 10 did.

16. Conclusions

17. REFERENCES • aracan, I., J. I. Thornby, M. Anch, L. R. Williams, G. H. Booth, and P. J. Salis. "Europe PubMed Central." N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2013. • Ethanol and caffeine effects on daytime sleepiness/alertness.Lumley, Mark A.; Roehrs, Timothy; Asker, Deanna; Zorick, Frank; et alSleep: Journal of Sleep Research & Sleep Medicine • Lodato, Francesca, Martina Barchitta, Joana Arauio, Henrique Barros, Carla Lopes, and AntonellaAgodi. "Caffeine Intake Reduces Sleep Duration in Adolescents." N.p., n.d. Web. • "Sleep Advice: Better Sleep Tips." SLEEP RESEARCH PROJECT - Sleep Advice: Better Sleep Tips. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2013.