The Insomnia Blog by Sleep Doctor Michael Breus, Ph.D.

Nap vs. Caffeine vs. More Nighttime Sleep?

If a 20-minute nap, a cup of joe, and more shuteye at night were in a cage match, who would win for reducing that classic afternoon “dip”? The answer is: (in order of effectiveness)

1. Nap
2. Caffeine
3. Then more nighttime sleep

A new study just released proves the power of a nap over a jolt of caffeine and even more sleep at night. It’s actually the first such study to look at all three methods for combating the afternoon lull that’s commonly experienced—and which is a very normal physiological response to the body cycling through its natural rhythms during the day.

Take a Caffeinated Shower

Looking for an extra boost in the shower to wake you up? How about a caffeinated shower?

You read that right. I had to do a double–take myself when I read about this in an airplane magazine. It’s called Shower Shock (aptly titled) and the product claims to contain approximately 12 servings (yes, that’d be 12 showers) per 4-ounce bar.

The hilarious part of the sales pitch: 200 milligrams of caffeine per serving, which is the equivalent of two mugs of coffee. According to the product label, caffeine can be absorbed through the skin and for maximum effect, “build up a good Shower Shock lather across your entire body before rinsing!”

Is this a joke? No, I don’t think so, at $6.99 per bar. But how true is it? Can you really get a jolt from caffeinated soap?

Good News for Coffee Drinkers

I frequently get asked if I think drinking coffee is like sleeping with the devil. People are surprised when I tell them no, and that coffee can be a healthy part of life—it doesn’t have to mess with your sleep. There are a multitude of benefits that accompany coffee drinking, and now we have one more reason to add to the list: it can cut the risk of stroke in women.

The new study just published shows that four or more cups of coffee a day reduced the risk of stroke by 20 percent in women. (Sorry, but men were not analyzed; this study came from a 24-year examination of nurses with no history of stroke, heart disease, diabetes, or cancer, starting in 1980. My guess is they’d find similar results in men. The risk of stroke is higher in women, however.)

The best news came for those who don’t smoke. Among those who either quit or never smoked at all, the risk was reduced by 43 percent. That’s incredibly telling. Another blow to smoking. Another reason to kick that habit. But keep drinking your coffee.

Warning: Energy Drinks Stealing Sleep and Sanity

They are no longer targeted to athletes and people looking for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick-me-up between meals. Energy drinks reflect a gi-normous market today, as they find their way into everyday life for many Americans, especially young adults and teens. Funny how they first emerged on the scene as “dietary supplements.” Now they seem like a revved up version of soda pop, or Coke on crack (to put it lightly).

There’s a growing movement to put warning labels on the ones that contain exorbitant amounts of caffeine (yes, more caffeine than coffee in some cases) as researchers publish a new paper on these high-octane beverages. The industry, of course, begs to differ and doesn’t want to reveal such information on its products, much less agree to warning labels.

Energy Drinks: No Limits on Caffeine

In the article online that summarized this recent brouhaha, I was surprised to learn that although the FDA limits the caffeine contents of cola-type soft drinks to 71 milligrams per 12 fluid ounces, no such limit is required on energy drinks. And between the lack of information on the label and the lack of regulation, it can be hard to know what’s in an “energy” can.

That said, at least the names of some of these drink should be a big hint: Monster, Rockstar, Tab Energy, and the ubiquitous Red Bull. My favorite, though (at least in name) has got to be either Fixx (as in Get Your Fixx) or Wired X505, which contains 505 milligrams of caffeine. That’s about twice the amount of a strong Starbucks drip. Are you shaking yet?

There Could Be Something in the Air…

Imagine getting a good buzz just off the mere whiff of coffee. Is it true? Can you really reverse the effects of sleep deprivation in the brain from just smelling the beautiful aromas of a good Joe?

A team of Japanese researchers are beginning to think so. In a study just published they found that when rats were deprived sleep (for one day), certain genes important to brain function became suppressed and then reactivated at the smell of coffee. We don’t know, however, if the same genes would be suppressed in sleep-deprived humans, and we also don’t know if we’d feel tired if those specific genes were suppressed. Humans and rats do, however, share similar genetic fingerprints.

The Smell of Coffee: Perking People Up

Does this help explain why we love the smell of coffee so much? Anecdotal evidence alone says people perk up at the drop of freshly brewed coffee. Lots of people agree that the smell is so much better than the taste, and because so many non-coffee drinkers love the smell of coffee, you got to wonder if there’s something in that coffee-infused air that does something to us biologically.

I think this is some neat research and if coffee aromatics can reactivate genes responsible for making us feel tired or awake, then this opens the door to a whole new area of study. Think about the possibilities this offers, such as manufacturing plants blasting coffee odors into factories where tired workers don’t have the luxury to stop to sip on coffee as they work machinery. No caffeine required! Just a few whiffs of strong Java may (temporarily) revive them. Granted, it probably won’t do the same job as getting a real caffeine fix, but any boost, however small, can be a plus. 

I say, this is all the more reason for businesses like Starbucks to return to the days when they’d grind coffee regularly so (if you’re a coffee aficionado) you’d experience that oh-so refreshing inhalation when you walked into a store. People need more than a good cup of coffee.

Are Moms Relying Too Much on Caffeine?

That said, I want to share something else that came through the wires last week. It was a roundup of how much people, especially moms, rely on caffeine.

None of it was too surprising, but it did reveal the extent to which so many of us depend on caffeine to get through our days. We go from traditional coffee in the morning to copious caffeinated sodas and energy drinks in the afternoon. Sales of popular beverages like Rockstar and Red Bull have skyrocketed in the last two years.

Some energy drinks have twice the amount of caffeine as regular coffee, a fact largely forgotten among many people who struggle with insomnia. I’ve even heard some overscheduled moms joke that they’d put a caffeine patch on themselves in the morning if they could!

Caffeine does deserve its place in our diets, but too much is too much. It can trigger migraines, heartburn, gastrointestinal problems, and put women at an increased risk of miscarriage. It also has an impact on your heart (the good news is none of these effects are long-term, and are reversible if you simply cut back).

Put it this way: If you need a stimulant to get through your day, the time has come to make a few small changes. Let me suggest some tried and true ways to balance your sleep and wake budget.

5 Tips to Balance the Sleep-Wake Budget

1. Have a regular “cut-off” time after which you don’t consume any caffeine. 2 p.m. is the ideal cut-off time, but if you must have caffeine after that, then go light (try teas) and avoid all caffeine after 5 p.m., including those from soft drinks.
   
   
2. Schedule exercise into your day, and if you can, do it in the late afternoon/early evening hours. Getting active 4 to 6 hours before bedtime can help you to achieve the highest-quality sleep.
   
   
3. Find quiet time for yourself twice a day—once in the morning and again in the PM. It can be just 10 minutes. Use the time to close your eyes and meditate, or read an article in your favorite magazine. You can do this at your desk, in a cozy chair, or even in your car as you await the kids to come out of school. If you have a full 20 to 30 minutes, try napping.
   
   
4. If you cannot go a day without a caffeine drip every couple of hours, then it’s time to re-evaluate your work, social, parenting, and sleep schedule. Are you getting enough sleep? Can you get to bed sooner?
   
   
5. Test out the smell-buzz yourself. When you’re feeling low on energy, open up a can of coffee, or walk through a coffee shop that actually smells like one. If you feel the urge to order something, go for green or black tea instead.
   

According The National Sleep Foundation, more than 65 percent of moms drink caffeinated beverages to get through their day. See if you can count yourself among the other 35 percent.

Warning: These Potato Chips Contain Caffeine

Bottoms up: you never know where you’ll be able to get your next caffeine fix. Forget about designer coffee and helping the flailing Starbucks chain spring back to life (just last week articles and postings for the Wall Street Journal commented on whether or not its founding father Howard Schultz could be its saving grace). Schultz has more competition today than just fellow coffee shops selling overpriced lattes. He may be banking on America’s continual need for caffeinated beverages morning, noon, and night… but now it’s not just about coffee. Nor is it about tea and dark chocolate.

It’s about potato chips, lip balm, mints, sunflower seeds, and soap.

Coffee vs. Napping

I think virtually everyone has had the unfortunate experience of driving while drowsy and struggling to stay awake. But not everyone has pondered the best “quick fix” short of getting off the road for a full night’s sleep. This week the New York Times blogged about a new study in the medical journal Sleep that attempted to answer the question: is it better to drink coffee or take a nap?

Answer: coffee. But read on... how old you are is the deciding factor!

The Buzz on Energy Drinks

It was only a matter of time. In the past week I’ve read two different articles about “energy drinks.” One was posted online at WebMD.com and the other was published in the Wall Street Journal on August 22nd, titled “Energy Drinks Under Fire.”

I remember when “energy” drinks were all about sugar. But now they are more about sugar, caffeine, and sometimes alcohol (I still don’t get how they can market the word “energy” with “alcohol”, but your guess is as good as mine). Now there’s a call to action from attorneys general who want federal regulators to crack down on the how these drinks are marketed—pointing to misleading advertising on a product that can pose serious health and safety risks.

Caffeine Facts

While catching up on my reading about caffeine I came across a story featured in the April 23, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report. The facts I was able to pull out were simply amazing:

• A police officer in Alaska has invented a combination of caffeine and lip balm.
  
• An inventor in Durham, NC has perfected the recipe for a caffeine-infused doughnut or bagel.
  
• The number of 18-to-24-year-olds who drink coffee daily has doubled, from 16 percent to 31 percent.
  
• Energy drinks like Red Bull and Cocaine, with several times the buzz of a can of Coke, have mushroomed into a $3.5 billion-a-year industry.
  
• Children's consumption of soft drinks has doubled in the past 35 years, with sodas supplanting milk.
  
• A 2003 study of Columbus, Ohio middle schoolers found some taking in 800 milligrams of caffeine a day -- more than twice the recommended maximum for adults of 300 milligrams. (Click here for my post on how to cut back on caffeine intake.)
  
• Test subjects dosed with the amount found in a cup of coffee come out ahead on problem-solving tasks.
  
• By triggering the release of adrenaline to help muscles work harder and longer, caffeine so clearly enhances athletic performance that until 2004 it was considered a controlled substance by the International Olympic Committee.
  
• The latest findings on coffee suggest that it even staves off disease. Caffeine reduces the risk of Parkinson's disease, for example, by blocking receptors for adenosine, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in motor function. It is now being tested as a Parkinson's treatment. Caffeine also heads off migraines by contracting blood vessels in the brain.
  
• Coffee, like blueberries and broccoli, contains potent antioxidants.  It appears to reduce the risk of colon cancer, gallstones, and liver cancer, among other illnesses.
  
• In 2005, Harvard researchers found that drinking six cups of coffee or more daily cut the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by half in men and 30 percent in women.
  
• One study of 80,000 women showed that those who drank more than two or three cups of coffee daily reduced their risk of suicide over 10 years by a third.
  
• The young adult crowd who favor caffeine with their alcohol appear to be putting themselves at some risk, too. According to Mark Fillmore, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky, "Caffeine seems to restore the speed of your behavior but not the accuracy”.  This gives a whole new meaning to “The Quick and the Dead!”
  
• "Coffee culture" has become so much a part of American culture that 36-year-old Starbucks, once considered a gourmet's treat, now boasts 9,401 stores nationwide and has focused growth on economically struggling neighborhoods far from the yuppified precincts of its early success.

So what have a learned from all of these factoids?

First, I think it is safe to say that very few people who use caffeine really know the pros and cons and how to use it appropriately.

Second, I know almost no one who thinks about their use or abuse of caffeine.

And finally, it made me think twice about my single morning cup a few days per week.

Caffeinated Donuts

Courtesy of GirlMD:

Caffeinated Donut Invented

Molecular biologist Robert Bohannon has created pastries with the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee. What do you think?

If you're addicted to caffeinated donuts (or just plain regular coffee), you may want to consult my post on Caffeine Fading.