Coffee not best shot

PEOPLE who regularly have caffeinated drinks demonstrated the same level of mental alertness and sleepiness as those who don’t drink them, according to a UK study.

This is because we become tolerant to the wakefulness and anxiogenic (anxiety making) effects of caffeine, says Peter Rogers, a professor of biological psychology at the University of Bristol.

“Habitual coffee drinkers who rely on their coffee to give them a perk in the morning are feeling alerted by caffeine because they are actually going from caffeine withdrawal — having had no caffeine overnight — to ‘normal’,” he said.

As for drinking coffee to keep you awake, people’s tolerance of caffeine varies, says Professor Jim Horne. “Sometimes I think there is a psychosomatic element to it. ‘People think that their coffee will keep them awake and so it does.’