Several experimental studies have shown that coffee promotes alertness after a bad night, but is caffeine also useful in performing complex cognitive tasks?
To better understand the effects of coffee, an American team (University of Michigan) recruited about 300 adults to perform two types of tasks in the evenings as part of the study. On the one hand a relatively simple task that required attention and vigilance, on the other hand a complex task with different actions in a predetermined order.
The participants were then divided into two groups. One group went home and slept as usual, while the others stayed up all night in a lab room. The next day, everyone was given a pill containing either caffeine (200 mg) or a placebo (inactive substance). Then they were asked to complete the same assignments as the day before.
What turned out?
- Sleep deprivation affected performance on both types of tasks, which was to be expected and confirms the findings of previous studies.
- In the case of a simple task, caffeine will make up for the lack of alertness to some extent, but the effect is much less pronounced when performing a complex task.
The researchers conclude that caffeine can help you focus after a bad night, but we shouldn't rely on coffee when we need to perform complex tasks. In such a case, nothing can match a good night's sleep.
