Small, frequent doses of caffeine found to boost cognitive performance.(Brief Article)

Emergency Preparedness News, March, 2005

The Air Force has admitted what many responders know all too well--caffeine in the form of coffee, tea, or soda is often the beverage of choice for staying alert when working long hours. And so the Air Force's Office of Scientific Research funded a study by the Sleep Disorders Center at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago) to find out how to maximize caffeine's cognitive effect.

"The Air Force was concerned because during the first Gulf War, pilots used amphetamines and other stimulants to keep awake" on long missions, according to James Wyatt, a sleep researcher at the university and author of the study. Wyatt's team discovered that drinking frequent low doses of caffeine is the most effective way to get the maximum effect.

The study monitored 16...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.