Caffeine is found naturally in more than 60 plants, and the world's favorite ways to consume caffeine include coffee, tea, cocoa, soft drinks and diet pills. Caffeine is a stimulant. Because it's a drug, you can get hooked on the substance, and that can lead to many sleep related problems. When you're taking caffeine regularly you'll get less sleep than your body might need, and when you abstain from caffeine, you may suffer from excessive sleepiness and need more sleep than usual. Both of these sleep problems are recognized disorders.
Caffeine Use in the United States
Caffeine has been called the most popular stimulant in the world. A 2010 "New York Times" report noted that 90 percent of North Americans get some form of caffeine daily. The University of Utah says about 20 percent of Americans consume more than 500 mg of caffeine each day, and about 10 percent get more than 1,000 mg per day. This excessive caffeine consumption can easily result in a sleep disorder, as well as mood problems and severe withdrawal symptoms like headaches if you don't consistently give your body the caffeine it's used to. In other words, your body quickly becomes addicted to caffeine, and you'll sleep a lot less while you're taking it regularly.
Caffeine and Sleep
Caffeine gets to your bloodstream through the stomach and small intestine. Its stimulant effect starts less than 15 minutes after you consume it. Once it's coursing through your veins, it takes about six hours for just half of what you consume to get eliminated. If the resultant afternoon slump prompts you to drink another cup of coffee, its caffeine effects will be with you well into the night hours and likely past your bedtime. In even moderate doses of regular caffeine consumption, the National Sleep Foundation says you could experience insomnia. Lack of sleep causes many health problems, including increased a heightened risk for obesity, heart disease, diabetes and car crashes. In addition, caffeine-induced sleeplessness can cause significant problems with memory and concentration. For example researchers writing in the December 2007 issue of the "Perceptual and Motor Skills" journal found that a group of people who took repeated doses of caffeine and then didn't sleep made 57 percent more errors than a group who had no caffeine on a test to determine their capability for abstract reasoning and concept formation.
Caffeine Withdrawal and Sleep
The symptoms of caffeine withdrawal have been well studied, according to Johns Hopkins University Bayview Medical Center. Researchers call it caffeine withdrawal syndrome, and the symptoms are serious enough to be included as a diagnosable disorder under guidelines issued by the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association. When you've been addicted to caffeine and then stop taking it, you'll start to experience withdrawal symptoms within 24 hours of the last dose you took. Along with throbbing headaches, drowsiness is one of the most noticeable and persistent symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. You will need copious amounts of extra sleep, as the caffeine is no longer there working to stave off sleep and keep you alert. Unfortunately, this symptom doesn't respect the order of your day. You may experience a general feeling of lethargy and sleepiness all hours of the day as you withdraw from caffeine dependence. Take care to get extra naps and leave room for extra sleep at night. The American Psychiatric Association recognizes caffeine-induced sleep disorders, which include both excessive drowsiness and insomnia, as diagnosable conditions.
Safe Levels of Caffeine Intake
There is no nutrition need for caffeine, but moderate caffeine intake won't cause adverse health effects. The National Sleep Foundation defines a moderate caffeine intake as about 250mg per day, or roughly thee 8-oz. cups of coffee. The International Food Information Council Foundation describes moderate intake as 300mg per day. Considering the standard venti-sized cups from popular coffee houses, it's quite easy to push past moderate intake. The foundation says 48 oz. of coffee would be considered an excessive intake. If you have high blood pressure, are pregnant or nursing or elderly, you are more vulnerable to the ill effects of caffeine and should take considerably less than most people, if not none at all. In addition, if you're trying to get off caffeine, ease off slowly to avoid the sleep-related problems of caffeine withdrawal. Going cold turkey can cause a dramatic reduction in your blood pressure and your sleepiness will also be excessive, according to the foundation. Instead, you should abstain from caffeine slowly over a period of about two weeks to reduce these problems.
References
- University of Utah University Health Care: Caffeine Use and Abuse
- National Sleep Foundation: Caffeine and Sleep
- Johns Hopkins University Bayview Medical Center: Information on Caffeine Dependence
- "Perceptual and Motor Skills"; Effects of Acute Caffeine Withdrawal on Short Category Test Performance in Sleep-Deprived Individuals; William Killgore, et al.; December 2007
- "Psychopharmacology" ; A Critical Review of Caffeine Withdrawal: Empirical Validation of Symptoms and Signs, Incidence, Severity, and Associated Features; Laura M. Juliano and Roland R. Griffiths; October 2004
- "Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook"; Joyce H. Lowinson, et al.; 2005
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