Geschatte leestijd: 3 minuten
A newly developed algorithm extracts more from the caffeine in your coffee. By determining the optimal timing, alertness is maximally increased.
Athletes or Slackers?
We haven’t written extensively about caffeine for no reason. It’s not for nothing that it’s the most widely used stimulant worldwide, which is also a natural fat burner. However, we’ve also discussed the habituation to caffeine, which can cause a loss of effectiveness. If this prevents you from always benefiting from the advantages of caffeine, then timing appears to be important. Ensuring that you use caffeine wisely so that you get the maximum benefit when needed. This doesn’t mean your usual coffee rounds at the office or at breakfast at home.
But when you’re sleep deprived due to an exam week or when you have an important competition. Moments when you need to peak but don’t necessarily have the most energy. Dealing with sleep deprivation is also something that is trained in many special military units. So it’s not very surprising that the US military is behind the research trying to maximize the effect of caffeine on alertness [1].
Getting More Boost from Your Coffee
The Americans came up with an algorithm that calculates the optimal timing and dosage of caffeine during sleep deprivation. With this, alertness can be increased by 64% more with the same amount of caffeine that is less accurately timed. Conversely, it means that with smart timing, the same alertness can be achieved with 64% less caffeine. This is explained by Jaques Reifman, who is a senior researcher and director of the Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute of the Department of Defense.
The research used a previously tested mathematical model that measures the effects of sleep loss and caffeine on reaction time (psychomotor vigilance task, PVT). This was combined with a computationally efficient optimization algorithm. This algorithm uses user data such as the day-night rhythm and the maximum allowed amount of caffeine. As a result, the algorithm shows the ideal strategy for the dosage and timing of caffeine.
The algorithm was evaluated by comparing it with dosage strategies from four previously published studies. For each study, two dosage strategies were calculated. One strategy where the effect on alertness had to be increased using the same dosage as in the original study. In the second strategy, an attempt was made to achieve the same alertness as in the original study but with a lower dosage. In both cases, the algorithm was successful.
Our algorithm is the first quantitative tool that provides automated, customized guidance for safe and effective caffeine dosing to maximize alertness at the most needed times during any sleep-loss condition
Looking into the Coffee Grounds
It remains to be seen if and when the algorithm will be made available to the public. So it remains to be seen if this will have practical utility if, for example, you want to use caffeine as a pre-workout.
As mentioned, habituation to caffeine can cause the effects to diminish over time. Knowing the best time to take it ensures that you achieve more with a smaller dosage. A smaller dosage ensures that habituation is delayed and you benefit from the effects on alertness for longer.
Even if it remains to be seen whether you can ever make use of such calculations yourself, you can of course start with a more critical attitude towards your caffeine intake. Do you want to get the most out of your caffeine? Then use it only when necessary. So not every morning as a fixed part of your breakfast or every time you pass the coffee machine at work. Finally, it should also be emphasized that coffee and caffeine are not interchangeable when it comes to their effects.
References
- Vital-Lopez FG, Ramakrishnan S, Doty TJ, Balkin TJ, Reifman J. Caffeine dosing strategies to optimize alertness during sleep loss. J Sleep Res. 2018 May 28:e12711. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12711. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 29808510.
