Researchers from the University of Montreal used EEG monitoring to analyze the sleep patterns of 40 healthy adults after caffeine consumption. The findings confirm what health advocates have long suspected. Caffeine doesn’t just delay sleep; it fundamentally alters the brain’s nighttime function, reducing deep-wave activity and impairing memory consolidation.
Caffeine pushes the brain into a state of "criticality," a term scientists use to describe a hyper-alert balance between order and chaos. "It’s like an orchestra: too quiet and nothing happens, too chaotic and there’s cacophony," said study co-author Karim Jerbi, a psychology professor at Mila-Quebec AI Institute. While this state enhances focus during waking hours, it becomes destructive at night.
The study found caffeine increased beta waves (linked to wakefulness) while suppressing delta waves, which are crucial for deep sleep. "The brain would neither relax nor recover properly," warned Julie Carrier, a sleep and psychology professor involved in the research. Even when participants fell asleep, their brain signals were more erratic, resembling an awake mind rather than one at rest....<<<Read More>>>...
