By Chris Yemma, Staff Writer
Do you ever find yourself awake until the wee hours of the morningdrinking gallons of coffee to catch up on weeks of work for thatstupid midterm you don't want to take?
Gulping all that coffee is definitely not the best way to study,according to recent studies and the advice of professors.
"I wouldn't recommend taking caffeine to study," exercise andnutritional sciences professor Brent Rushell said. "When you arefully rested and free of distractions, you can learn very efficientlywithout caffeine. You can do three hours of work straight without abreak."
Not only does caffeine affect studying, it also affects sleepingpatterns. A study published in the January issue of Pediatricsreveled that caffeine intake may have a negative effect on thesleeping schedule of teens.
The study, conducted in Ohio in 1998, involved 191 students ingrades seven through nine. The students were given a questionnaireeach day for two consecutive weeks and asked about their sleepinghabits and caffeine intake.
The teens slept an average of eight hours each night, but someonly slept six hours. As caffeine intake rose, sleeping hoursdeclined.
However, Charles Pollak, a neurologist in the Ohio StateUniversity Medical Center's Division of Sleep Medicine, said theresults could be misleading.
Pollak told USA Today in January that researchers "can't be surethe caffeine caused them to lose sleep, because the arrow might be inthe opposite direction. Sleepy kids may use caffeine to wakethemselves up."
The question of caffeine intake and college students is thenraised.
Rushell said the effects of caffeine are extremely variable,depending the dose and the individual.
"Some people can shove off caffeine within an hour," he said."Others are still wired six hours later. There is a very largevariation on how long it's retained and sensitivity to it."
Rushell said caffeine can have absolutely no effect on a person iftaken in an extremely minimal amount. Sometimes it is beneficial iftaken in a moderate amount, he said.
Some students have been down the road of caffeine overdoses.
Advertising senior Kristy Evans said she remembers one night inparticular when she overloaded on caffeine.
During her freshman year, while living in a residence hall, Evanssaid she drank two cups of coffee while studying for finals. Eventhough she had planned on going to bed at midnight, she ended upstaying up all night.
She said that because she was so wired and jittery, she beganpacking up her room around 3 a.m. so that she would be ready to moveout the next day.
Advertising senior Lauren Healy said drinking coffee during theday does not affect her sleeping patterns. But drinking tea at nightand even during the day does affect her ability to fall asleep, shesaid.
Rushell agreed that caffeine late at night is not beneficial.
"If you have caffeine late at night when you're tired and thereare forces in your body saying you don't want to study, you getconflict," he said. "You get chemical processes in your body fightingeach other."
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