Scientists have confirmed that moderate consumption of coffee does not increase the risk of insomnia, while smoking shortly before bed can negatively affect health.
Researchers have studied for decades how a person's habits affect sleep. Most often, you hear about the negative effects of coffee and tea, and sometimes talk about the "relaxing" effect of alcohol and nicotine.
Now experts from the United States have tried to analyze in as much detail as possible the effects of caffeine, nicotine and alcohol on the body preparing for sleep. They presented their findings in the Sleep magazine, the Russian-language review was published by TASS.
In total, 785 people took part in the experiment. For fourteen years, specialists from Florida Atlantic University and Harvard Medical School have monitored changes in their sleep patterns and monitored their consumption of coffee, alcoholic beverages and smoking cigarettes. Special wrist sensors were used to collect data.
Scientists have found that nicotine and alcohol actually provoke sleep disturbances. So, people who, during the experiment, smoked at least one cigarette before going to bed, on average, did not get enough sleep for 42 minutes. Roughly the same goes for alcohol. But coffee, as it turns out, doesn't have as significant an effect on sleep quality as previously thought.
“Individuals who consumed nicotine or alcohol four hours before bedtime experienced certain quality issues compared to those who did not. However, we did not find any relationship between caffeine consumption before night rest and sleep disturbances,”says Christine E. Spadola, professor at the University of Florida Atlantic.
The researchers themselves find the findings surprising, since caffeine should stimulate the central nervous system and help keep people awake. Moreover, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto, the link between activity and coffee consumption in Western culture has reached such a degree that even one thought about this drink is enough to dispel thoughts of sleep.
Ilya Vedmedenko
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