The Ups and Downs of Coffee and Caffeine
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Many people drink coffee or tea to help them wake in the morning. And many others drink caffeine throughout the day to prevent sleepiness.
So, it is no surprise that if you get too much caffeine before bedtime, it can keep you awake. It turns out that interrupting your sleep is bad for your health on many levels, including the cellular level.
A new study explains how interrupted sleep can affect your mental and physical health. The study also explores how poor sleep can affect the cells in your body.
The investigators are from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the U.S. and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. They found that caffeinated drinks taken up to three hours before expected bedtime can delay normal sleep times by as much as 40 minutes.
This is no surprise. Scientists have known for a long time that caffeine keeps you awake. Caffeine affects the chemicals in the brain that control wakefulness. Caffeine also blocks chemicals in the brain that promote, or cause you to sleep.
And interrupted sleep is not good for you.
Not getting enough sleep can affect a person’s mood. It also disrupts the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle called the circadian rhythm. Your body’s circadian rhythm is found in cells throughout the entire body.
So, when caffeine disrupts your circadian rhythm, it affects hormone production and the re-growth of new cells in the human body. And this can play a role in many health problems – from obesity to diabetes to cancer. But caffeine’s effect on the body is not all bad.
Mr. Wright says people could use caffeine to help their body’s clock, for example, when they travel.
"Another example of an implication of our findings is we may be able to use caffeine to help shift our clocks westward when we're traveling across many time zones. In this case here, caffeine may help us adapt to jet lag much faster."
The scientists published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The scientists also give some common sense advice -- people who want to wake up earlier in the morning might want to avoid that nighttime cup of caffeine.
And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report
The Ups and Downs of Coffee and CaffeineFrom VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. Many people drink coffee or tea to help them wake in the morning. And many others drink caffeine throughout the day to prevent sleepiness.So, it is no surprise that if you get too much caffeine before bedtime, it can keep you awake. It turns out that interrupting your sleep is bad for your health on many levels, including the cellular level.A new study explains how interrupted sleep can affect your mental and physical health. The study also explores how poor sleep can affect the cells in your body.The investigators are from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the U.S. and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. They found that caffeinated drinks taken up to three hours before expected bedtime can delay normal sleep times by as much as 40 minutes.This is no surprise. Scientists have known for a long time that caffeine keeps you awake. Caffeine affects the chemicals in the brain that control wakefulness. Caffeine also blocks chemicals in the brain that promote, or cause you to sleep.And interrupted sleep is not good for you.Not getting enough sleep can affect a person’s mood. It also disrupts the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle called the circadian rhythm. Your body’s circadian rhythm is found in cells throughout the entire body.So, when caffeine disrupts your circadian rhythm, it affects hormone production and the re-growth of new cells in the human body. And this can play a role in many health problems – from obesity to diabetes to cancer. But caffeine’s effect on the body is not all bad.Mr. Wright says people could use caffeine to help their body’s clock, for example, when they travel."Another example of an implication of our findings is we may be able to use caffeine to help shift our clocks westward when we're traveling across many time zones. In this case here, caffeine may help us adapt to jet lag much faster."The scientists published their findings in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The scientists also give some common sense advice -- people who want to wake up earlier in the morning might want to avoid that nighttime cup of caffeine.And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report
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