How caffeine consumption affects the quality of our night’s rest: this is what a study reveals

Consuming it in excess can also cause health problemssuch as headache, insomnia, nervousness, irritability, frequent urination or inability to control urination, tachycardia or muscle tremors, according to the Mayo Clinic. That is why we should not exceed the amount of 400 milligrams of caffeine per daythat is, about four coffees a day, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

However, we must keep in mind that, although this safe dose can be consumed without causing negative effects to our body, the moment in which we consume it can affect our rest. This is what the study now reflects ‘Dose and timing effects of caffeine on subsequent sleep: A randomized clinical crossover trial’carried out by researchers from the Faculty of Behavioral and Health Sciences of the Australian Catholic University (ACU).

Published last October, scientists have drawn some conclusions about the influence that caffeine dose and timing in which they are consumed in effects on night rest.

This is how the dose and timing of caffeine consumption influence our sleep

It has been echoed about him Antelm Pujoldoctor and specialist in Endocrinology and Nutrition, who has considered this research and its analyzes of two different doses of caffeine (100 mg and 400 mg) administered 12, 8 or 4 hours before bedtime. “It is a crossover study so the same person is exposed to both situations, this reduces interpersonal variability,” the expert said through his Twitter account before presenting the data obtained.

First, researchers have tested the consumption of 100 milligrams of caffeinewhich is more or less equivalent to a coffee. This consumption, according to experts, has not had no effect on sleep qualityboth in objective and subjective measurements, in none of the schedules. That is why they consider “safe to consume 100 mg of caffeine up to 4 hours before bed”as this will not negatively affect our night schedules.

Things change when the dose is increased to 400 milligramswhich is equivalent to about four coffees. If this amount of drink is consumed up to 12 hours before bedwe began to see the first adverse effects in the patients tested, according to the research. In this case, as was not the case with the single dose previously, the duration of deep sleep decreases by up to 20 minutesaltering night rest.

These effects are aggravated when the intake of these 400 milligrams of caffeine is up to 8 hours before to go to bed. In that case, experts have warned in their study that sleep efficiency decreased by up to 7%, as did the duration of deep sleep, which went down in up to 15 minutes. In addition, patients also spent more time awake during the nightapproximately 30 minutes longer on average.

If these 4 coffees are consumed 4 hours of sleepthe effect is even more adverse for our rest. In this case, it has been observed that the people who have undergone the experiment sleep 50 minutes less than averageyour sleep efficiency decreases by 10% and lose up to 30 minutes of deep sleep. In addition, research has shown that most took 30 minutes longer to fall asleep than when this dose is lower.

The timing and dose of caffeine can negatively affect night’s rest

In this sense, Antelm Pujol has recognized that a series of conclusions can be drawn from this research by the Australian Catholic University. First of all, the doctor highlighted that “the only time to consume 400 mg of caffeine no impact on rest is 12 hours before bed».

The same does not happen when this same amount is consumed 8 or 4 hours before sleeping: “The 400 milligrams of caffeine negatively affect sleepboth in objective and subjective measurements, and the effects worsen the closer it is consumed in relation to bedtime,” replied the expert, about the possible consequences that this can have on our night’s rest.

Finally, Pujol also recalled that the study shows that both the dose and the moment in which we consume this caffeine really matter for our sleep: «Consume 100mg of caffeine (the equivalent of a coffee) could be done even 4 hours before going to sleep and would have no negative impact», he insisted.