Caffeine is well-known for its ability to help you wake up in the morning and fight off sleepiness at other times of day. Coffee and other caffeinated beverages such as energy drinks are used as a pick-me-up. Caffeine stimulates you physically and mentally, which makes you alert but does not affect the underlying need to sleep.
Sleep Needs
Your sleep needs vary, depending on your age, with youngsters needing more sleep time than adults. Babies need 12 to 18 hours of daily sleep for the first two months of their lives. This total drops to 14 to 15 hours until they are 1 year of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Toddlers need 12 to 14 hours of sleep, while kids between the ages of 3 and 5 need 11 to 13 hours. That amount drops to 10 to 11 hours up until age 10, while teenagers need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of nightly sleep. Adults require seven to nine hours. Caffeine consumption does not affect these needs.
Caffeine Effects
Caffeine is a drug that is legally sold in energy pills and drinks and certain medicines such as pain relievers and cold and flu treatments. The chemical is also present in tea and coffee, chocolate and cola soft drinks because the plant materials used as sources for these foods and beverages are natural caffeine sources. Caffeine from any source makes you more mentally alert, according to the National Sleep Foundation, and keeps you from sleeping because it causes insomnia. The drug negatively affects your fine motor coordination, even though it wakes you up, and may make you dizzy and nervous and give you a headache.
Sleep Deprivation Effects
Chronically using caffeine to stay awake, and not getting enough sleep, eventually causes negative mental and physical effects, says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Common problems include anxiety, depression, irritability, attention and concentration problems, fatigue, impaired decision-making ability and attention problems. You also raise your risk of conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart attacks. Sleep deprivation leads to daytime sleepiness, which may cause you to use more caffeine, perpetuating the unhealthy cycle.
Considerations
Kids get caffeine from various sources such as soft drinks and chocolate candy, and the chemical acts on them in the same ways it affects adults. Approximately 75 percent of the children in a 2011 study by University of Nebraska researchers, published in the "Journal of Pediatrics," consumed caffeine every day, according to their parents' reports. The youngsters, who were between the ages of 5 and 12, all slept less than peers who did not consume any caffeine. Some of the kids still got the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended amount of sleep, but others regularly got less rest after caffeine intake.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; How Much Sleep Do I Need?; January 2011
- National Sleep Foundation; Caffeine and Sleep; Greg Belenky
- "The New York Times"; Childhood, A Caffeine Buzz From Soft Drinks; Nicholas Bakalar; December 2010
- "The Journal of Pediatrics"; Caffeine Consumption in Young Children; William Warzak, et. al.; March 2011
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine; Sleep Deprivation; 2008
