Findings from a new study by researchers from Bristol, London, Würzburg and Munster question the much-touted effects of caffeine. According to the research, coffee (or tea) does not provide consumers with an energy boost or a caffeine hit. Strictly speaking, coffee consumption in regular coffee drinkers only prevents the tiredness and listlessness that would result from caffeine withdrawal.
Does coffee really wake you up? The study was conducted with 379 participants, including both non-coffee drinkers and regular coffee consumers. After a 16-hour caffeine abstinence, participants were given either caffeine pills or placebo pills. Subsequently, the self-assessed attention and performance of the subjects were determined. Some of the regular coffee drinkers who had taken a placebo complained of headaches and felt tired. People who rarely or never drink coffee, on the other hand, had no problems after taking a placebo. Coffee drinkers who received a dose of caffeine felt normal afterwards, their levels were normal. Overall, none of the test groups’ performance values were higher than those of the non-coffee drinkers with placebo. Accordingly, it can be concluded that there are no benefits for activity or performance from caffeine consumption.
Anyone who cannot start the day without coffee has made a mistake about the effects of caffeine. In principle, caffeine can wake you up because it docks onto receptors for the body’s own tiredness molecules called adenosine and blocks them. However, coffee no longer has a really stimulating effect, especially for regular coffee drinkers. On the contrary: a body that is used to regular caffeine consumption reacts to withdrawal with symptoms of fatigue, headaches or a feeling of reduced performance. So the caffeine only has a balancing effect on the symptoms that arise from “caffeine addiction” or habituation. The effect of caffeine on people who drink coffee regularly or a lot is reversed, the stimulation that coffee drinkers feel is felt. The scientists have thus reduced the illusion of coffee as a stimulant. However, this will hardly affect the popularity of the drink…
