Caffeine

Introduction

Caffeine is the most widespread psychoactive drug in the world and is contained in large quantities in coffee and, in lower concentration, in other beverages that are regularly consumed to temporally ward of drowsiness or increase mental performance.

The main mechanism at work with caffeine to achieve the alleviation of drowsiness is by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain that are a part of the sleep regulation mechanism.

While caffeine both does induce a number of scientifically validated positive and negative effects on humans for a short time after consumption, withdrawal symptoms are possible in the case of caffeine dependence and are recognized by the ICD-11 and DSM-5.

Recommendations

For the purpose of adapting to Polyphasic sleep, the community discourages the intake of caffeinated beverages due to the ability of caffeine to disrupt sleep, decrease the amount of SWS sleep in a sleep block and mask sleep deprivation symptoms during the adaptation period. The long half life of caffeine (particularly as contained in coffee), significantly outlasts both the perceptible cognitive boost and the inevitable following caffeine crash, proceeding to effect the next sleep block in a subtle but negative way.