Draft #4 of Research Paper

Yechan Bae

English 21003-Section M

Professor Matyakubova

03 May, 2018

Research Paper Draft #4

The One Behind the Coffee Mug

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 workload he or she is trying to accomplish. In the society where caffeine is labeled as the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive drug, it is challenging to expect any major change in people’s behavior even after increasing the awareness of its side effects. Yet, it is still very necessary to reveal the findings of the side effects of caffeine overdose, as lot of people fall under that category. Excessive caffeine consumption will encourage mental illnesses, induce poor academic performance, diminish the ability to perform cognitive tasks, and disrupt sleep quality.

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. Will provide more background (history).

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 a short period of time.

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 continuity 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 overdose and intoxication can “lead to panic attacks or, in rare cases, psychosis or mania.”

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 crucial that students understand the possible negative outcomes over caffeine consumption can induce in their academic journey.

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 of 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). Will add a concluding sentence.

Disrupt Sleep Quality

            Sleep plays an important role in our physical and mental health as the recovering 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 circadian clock.” Circadian clock is a 24 hour internal clock that is running in our brains which cycles between sleepiness and alertness (Natural Sleep Foundation). As shown in the image below, caffeine, by blocking adenosine receptors, increase the intracellular cAMP signalling, weakens the sleep propensity, and delays the circadian clock (Landolt). By blocking adenosine receptors, which is responsible for the cellular energy transfer in our body, caffeine “induce[s] restlessness and prolong the time to fall asleep, enhance nighttime wakefulness, and reduce the depth of sleep” (Landolt). As shown in the image, this causes the time of sleep to decrease. By increasing the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signalling, which contributes to the circadian timekeeping and resetting of the clock (O’Neill), caffeine disrupts the circadian rhythm, causing sleep problems by negatively impacting the brain functions which rely on undisturbed slow-wave sleep (B.Rasch & J.Born). As shown in the image, this disrupts the circadian clock.

It is crucial for our body and mind to get undisturbed quality sleep in order to function properly the next day. Knowing that caffeine negatively affects our sleep cycle, it is important for the society to take caffeine consumption with extreme caution. After all, if caffeine consumption causes us to be more tired and sleepy by disrupting our sleep quality and circadian clock, it goes against our motive of drinking caffeine in the first place, as the purpose of drinking caffeinated drinks is to help us stay awake and alarmed. Then, there is no legitimate reason for caffeine consumption other than addiction or social pressure.

            According to a testimony by an undergraduate sophomore at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who shared her experience of having suffered long periods of severe sleep deprivation from caffeine, “caffeine would leave [her] awake for more than 3 hours, keeping her restless despite all efforts to try to go to sleep," eventually having her "see the morning sunrise and survive through another day with even more espresso shots than the day before." She could not keep up with the minimum amount need to concentrate for the coursework and was constantly late to class, ultimately leading to a serious drop in her grades. She also found it extremely exhausting to stay awake at her part-time job, as her boss eventually had to address her unsatisfactory accomplishments and inefficiency. The student continuously experienced difficulty in getting to sleep for multiple weeks until she finally made the dedication to eradicate the root cause of her suffering: caffeine. It was not easy and took her "numerous attempts as [she] repeated the process of  "standing in line at Starbucks then suddenly turning away to head out." Every time she was driven to desperately wanting a cup of coffee, she struggled between achieving immediate gratification, "feelings of comfort and ease" and facing its consequence that she knew was to follow, "desperate nights of sleeplessness and miserable daytime of exhaustion." Luckily, after immediately banning caffeine from her diet, she was able to regain her normal sleep cycle, recover her grades, and excel at her part-time job that she even got a promotion for working hard.

            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). Also, lack of sleep can negatively influence one’s performance the following day by decreasing motivation and energy, resulting the person to depend on more caffeine to keep the energy levels up. This habitual cycle depicts several individual’s dependency for caffeine every morning or afternoon.

 Solutions

            Possible alternatives for avoiding side effects but still consuming caffeine could be to substitute coffee and energy drinks into tea. Considering the workload the average person has to accomplish throughout the day, one might find it extremely difficult and even impossible to accomplish the given tasks without the help from caffeine. Fortunately, because caffeine can be consumed and incorporated through several methods, caffeine consumption can be achieved without experiencing the side effects by choosing healthier methods than coffee and energy drinks, such as tea. (Still working... ) (Trying to find one more solution: another alternative for coffee/ method one can incorporate by still drinking coffee but avoiding the side effects)

(Conclusion) Still working…

Works Cited (Not completed)

https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/what-circadian-rhythm (National Sleep Foundation)

J.S.O’Neill, E.S. Maywood, J. E. Chesham, J. S. Takahashi, M. H. Hastings, Science 320, 949 (2008).

B. Rash, J. Born, Physiol. Rev. 93, 681 (2013).