Draft #1 of Research Paper

Yechan Bae

English 21003-Section M

Professor Matyakubova

19 April, 2018

Research Paper Draft #1

The One Behind the Coffee Mug

(Introduction) For college students, it is very common to rely on caffeine for energy in order to complete academic tasks. Caffeine is mostly consumed through the means of coffee or energy drinks. As caffeine is an addictive stimulant, one can fall into a danger of over consuming caffeine depending on the work load he or she is trying to accomplish. In the society where consuming coffee or other caffeinated drinks is considered as the daily habit, it is challenging to expect any major change in people’s behavior even after being aware of the side effects of over consuming caffeine. Yet, it is very necessary to increase the awareness of the findings of the side effects of caffeine overdose, as lot of people fall under that category. (Thesis) Excessive caffeine consumption will encourage mental illnesses, induce poor academic performance, diminish the ability to perform cognitive tasks, and disrupt sleep quality.

            (Background) Caffeine is a stimulant which can be found mostly in coffee, tea, and energy drinks. According to the USA Today, an average American drinks three cups of coffee per day, approximately 300 mg of caffeine. According to The Huffington Post, the average daily consumption of soda in the United States is three glasses, approximately 100 mg of caffeine. The National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) recommends 400 mg of caffeine to be the maximum daily consumption to avoid any side effects.

            (Key Terms) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, caffeine is “an alkaloid compound which is found especially in tea and coffee plants and is a stimulant of the central nervous system.” Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV defines caffeine intoxication when 250 mg of caffeine is consumed in the short period of time.

(Point 1: encourage mental illnesses)

            Although caffeinated drinks provide energy and improve endurance and concentration, caffeine is also known to encourage psychiatric conditions such as anxiety, panic attacks, and mania. According to the report by Aleksandra Szpek and Danny Allen from the Journal of Psychopharmacology, excessive consumption of caffeine, regarded as 750 mg or more per day, is linked with “adverse effects of overstimulation, [such as] nervousness, arousal, restlessness, insomnia, and nausea.” Szpek and Allen explain that prolonged daily caffeine consumption can increase the level of tolerance, however, this continuality of caffeine overdose can develop “psychomotor agitation [, a symptom of emotional distress and restlessness,] and a rambling flow of thought and speech.” The authors conclude that caffeine overload and intoxication can “lead to panic attacks or, in rare cases, psychoses or mania.”

(Point 2: induce poor academic performance)

             Consumption of caffeinated drinks is especially high among college students, as they drink caffeinated drinks in order to help them complete their schoolwork. The question is: is there a relationship between caffeine consumption and academic performance? A group of researchers from the Journal of Primary Prevention conducted a study of first year undergraduate students of universities in the United States to find the association between caffeinated drink consumption and academic performance. The 844 participants were equally numbered in gender and race to ensure the reliability and diversity of the study. The study was conducted by numbers of surveys to examine the possible relationship of caffeine consumption and their Grade Point Average (GPA) levels. The result of the study is stated below:

            “We found that our quantity by frequency measure of energy drink consumption in the past month, and the number of drinks consumed during the last time of energy drink consumption, were negatively associated with academic achievement, even after taking into account student sleep duration on weekdays and weekends, perceived stress levels and stress management, and daily media use, all of which were factors that could potentially explain this association. Additionally, controlling for past month alcohol consumption, we found that energy drink use on the last occasion of consumption continued to be linked to poorer academic achievement” (Champlin et al).

            The findings indicate that caffeine consumption is linked with lower academic performance. Many young adults in post-secondary educational setting still rely on caffeine to complete their schoolwork. Caffeine used for this purpose yield poorer academic performance, as it also reflects the “lack of general academic achievement skills such as time management and planning capacities, as energy drinks may be used to stay up and finish assignments at the last minute” (Champlin et al). It is very crucial that students understand the possible negative outcomes caffeine consumption can induce in their academic journey.

(Point 3: diminish the ability to perform cognitive tasks)

            The general purpose of caffeine consumption is to enhance focus and attention, but ironically, caffeine overdose can induce poorer performance when executing cognitive tasks. Researchers from the Psychopharmacology department conducted a study of 369 participants, equally distributed in age and gender, to find if habitual caffeine consumption affects our daily cognitive performance. The study protocol was carefully reviewed and approved by the University of Bristol’s Department of Experimental Psychology Human Research Ethics Committee. In the study, the participants were divided into two groups, group A and group B, after regarding the equality in distribution by considering age, gender, and caffeine consumption frequency. At 11:15 am, group A received 100 mg of caffeine capsule and group B received a placebo capsule with no caffeine. At 12:45 pm, group A received 150 mg of caffeine capsule and group B received a placebo capsule. Then, the participants were asked to perform several cognitive tasks in the following order: tapping, mental alertness, recognition memory, simple reaction time and choice reaction time, all within 30 minutes after the second capsule was given. The study found that caffeine enhances physical performance (faster tapping speed and reaction times) but was associated with poorer mental response (mental alertness and recognition memory tasks). The study concluded that “while caffeine benefits motor performance and tolerance develops to its tendency to increase anxiety/jitteriness, tolerance to its effects on sleepiness means that frequent consumption fails to enhance mental alertness and mental performance” (Rogers et al).

(4: disrupt sleep quality)

            Sleep plays on important role in our physical and mental health as the healing and repairing of our body takes place. It is crucial to get essential amount of sleep since sleep deficiency can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lack of energy and motivation the next day. According to Hans Landbolt, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the university of Zurich, “Caffeine wakes people up [and] also disrupts the quality of sleep, [as it] delays the human endogenous circadian clock by antagonizing receptors for the endogenous sleep factor adenosine in the brain.” Specifically, caffeine lengthens the circadian period by “block[ing] adenosine receptors, inhibit[ing] phosphodiesterase activity, and activat[ing] ryanodine receptors” (Landbolt).

            According to a testimony by an undergraduate sophomore in John Jay College of Criminal Justice who experienced some severe sleep deprivation due to caffeine, “caffeine left [her] awake for more than 3 hours sometimes.” The student had difficulty in sleeping for a few weeks until she found out the cause of the sleep deprivation: caffeine. Luckily, she immediately banned caffeine from her diet and was able to get her normal sleep cycle again.

            Although some people can develop a tolerance to caffeine by habitual consumption, others may experience a different circumstance, such as sleep deprivation. Disrupting the sleep quality is extremely negative for the body and mind, as it may possibly induce bigger problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute).

(Conclusion) Still working…