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Caffeine may prevent increased risk due to several nights of sleep deprivation |
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According to a latest research study, a dose of caffeine may prevent increased risk taking that occurs after several nights of total sleep deprivation.
The study results suggested that despite extreme sleep deprivation, people who consumed caffeine did not exhibit increased risky behaviour on the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), a computerised measure of impulsive risk-taking.
According to William Killgore, principal study investigator and research psychologist at Harvard Medical School, sleep deprivation may not have a simple linear effect on risk taking. But they added that there may be a `breaking point` during which a person may show a drastic reduction in their ability to control or inhibit behaviour. In this study, caffeine appeared to protect against that breaking point.
Killgore stated, "People who were awake for three days straight became more impulsive and acted with less regard for consequences. However, if they had consumed caffeine each night (about the equivalent of 1-2 cups of coffee every two hours from just after midnight till dawn), they showed no increase in risky behaviour."
This study has looked at the most extreme range of sleep deprivation and most people may not experience such effects under normal circumstances. As per the results from a previous study, who were constantly restricted to three hours of sleep per night for a week showed an increase in risk-taking behaviour.
(Posted on : 16/06/2009)
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| Caffeine may prevent increased risk due to several nights of sleep deprivation |
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