Forskning

April 30, 2014

The effects of caffeine ingestion on the reaction time and short‐term maximal performance after 36 h of sleep deprivation

M Souissi et al, 2014, The effects of caffeine ingestion on the reaction time and short‐term maximal performance after 36 h of sleep deprivation, Physiology & Behavior, Accepted Manuscript, published online ahead of print.

Human Study – Mental Performance

ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of caffeine ingestion on cognitive and physical performances after 36h of sleep deprivation. In randomised order, thirteen healthy male physical education students (age: 21.1±1.1years, body mass: 77.1±7.2kg, height: 1.77±0.06m) completed four test sessions at 18:00h: after placebo or 5mg∙kg‐1 of caffeine ingestion during a baseline night (RN) (bed time: from 22:30h to 07:00h) or a night of 36h of sleep deprivation (TSD). During each test session, participants performed the squat jump (SJ), the reaction time, and the 30‐s Wingate tests (i.e., for the measurement of the peak (PP) and mean (MP) powers and the fatigue index (FI)). The results showed that PP and MP decreased and FI increased during the TSD compared to RN in the placebo condition (p<0.001). The caffeine ingestion improve PP after TSD compared to RN (p<0.001). SJ decreased significantly after the TSD compared with RN after both placebo and caffeine ingestions (p<0.001). However, SJ increased significantly after caffeine ingestion during RN and TSD (p<0.001). The reaction time increased significantly after TSD compared to RN (p<0.001). However, the reaction time decreased significantly after the caffeine ingestion only during the TSD (p<0.001). Therefore, caffeine is an effective strategy to counteract the effect of 36h of sleep loss on physical and cognitive performances.