EFFECT OF CAFFEINE ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS

Caffeine is the second most popular beverage consumed after water, and the most preferred psycho-stimulant. It is a long standing habit to use caffeine to stay awake and alert. Its preference stems from its influence on cognitive performance, perception, alertness and wakefulness. Caffeine has a cognitive enhancement effect on people, where it temporarily improves a person’s energy, their concentration, and focus, which has a significant bearing on a person’s learning and memory ability.

We consume approximately 1.6 billion cups of coffee every day across the globe, with possible underlying motivations for its preference being concentration and memory enhancement as well as improvement in one’s physical performance, albeit temporarily. As opined by Cappelletti, et al. (2015), caffeine containing products have positive inotropic and chronotropic effects which influence the cardiovascular system. They also affect the nervous system with their loco-motor activity stimulation. When taken in low and moderate doses, caffeine has been shown to improve a person’s, concentration, vigilance as well as reaction times. It can be used to sustain a person’ attention and performance when they are engaging in a demanding task or when they are fatigued. When a person is fatigued because of restricted or irregular sleep patterns as in the case of factory shift workers and transport workers, repeated caffeine doses can help them maintain their physical and cognitive abilities, thereby reducing the instances of failure or accidents (Cappelletti, Piacentino, Sani, & Aromatario 2015).

Caffeine use has been shown to improve learning and memory as well as a person’s mood. Caffeine helps in the learning of tasks where the information is passively presented. It helps improve the performance of a person’s memory under suboptimal alert conditions. This essentially means that taking a dose of caffeine before a lecture would probably help you focus in class and remember more of what is taught. Evidence of caffeine improving memory and learning is sparse because the way that caffeine does this is by making you alert and awake. Because you are alert and awake in class, chances of remembering what was taught increase. Memory improvements are thus more visible when you are tired or when you lack interest in the content. There should be moderation, however, as increased caffeine intake causes increased tension and nervousness. With regards to mood enhancement, coffee taken every four hours has been shown to sustain a relative improvement in a person’s mood. When taken in lower doses, it brings about a sense of calmness and in higher doses, a reduced risk of depression (McLellan, Caldwell, & Lieberman 2016).

There is increasing evidence that shows moderate caffeine consumption can be protective against neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s. Caffeine has been studied in relation to neurodegenerative diseases and their treatments and epidemiological reports have proven caffeine has neuroprotective properties. The neuroprotective properties of caffeine affect the activation or inhibition of A₁ and A_2A adenosine receptor subtypes which results in a reduction in hyperalgesia, inflammatory response, sensory and motor deficits and the cell death of the neurodegenerative diseases. 3-5 cups of coffee a day have been linked to a reduced risk of developing dementia in later life by up to 65%. Caffeine has also been proven to reduce motor and non-motor early onset symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (Cappelletti, et al. 2015).

There is no doubt about the cognitive effects of caffeine. There has to be something to the fact that coffee is the most preferred drink in the world, after water, which is the cognitive enhancing property of caffeine.  Caffeine is not a miracle substance as its impacts are seen through an increase in arousal, but it is an effective and safe method for someone looking for cognitive enhancement through increased alertness, better concentration, and improved mood.

References

Cappelletti, S., Piacentino, D., Sani, G., & Aromatario, M. 2015. Caffeine: cognitive and

physical performance enhancer or psychoactive drug? Current Neuropharmacology, 13(1), 71–88.

McLellan, T.M., Caldwell, J. & Lieberman, H.R. 2016. A Review of Caffeine's Effects on

Cognitive, Physical and Occupational Performance. Neuroscience and Bio-behavioral Reviews. 71.