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Coffee is seen by many to be part of the ritual of each day; one cup of coffee is set to wake you up and to make you prepared for what the day has in store for you, but according to recent research that to regular coffee drinkers, coffee has no impact on them. In fact they are no more alert than those that never drink coffee. The research was conducted by Bristol University and was published in the online journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

The research

The researchers studied approximately 379 people who had not drunk coffee for sixteen hours and then were given either some caffeine or a placebo and their responses were recorded. The researchers thus found very few differences between those who drank the caffeine and those who drank the placebo. One of the lead authors of the study, Peter Rogers from Bristol University’s Department of Experimental Psychology, has said that those people who drink coffee quite regularly usually suffer from a mild form of caffeine withdrawal because of the lack of caffeine during the night so the coffee that they drink in the morning brings them back to normal.

‘Back to normal’

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Frequent coffee drinkers who were given a placebo reported that they suffered from severe headaches and felt less alert while the heavy coffee drinkers who were given caffeine showed none of these signs, while those who do not usually drink coffee when fed caffeine said that they had headaches and suffered from anxiety. They also claimed that they felt no more alert than usual. Therefore, the researchers surmised from this is that caffeine simply brings the frequent coffee drinker ‘back to normal’ and the alertness one feels is a result of relieving the caffeine withdrawal that one feels.

Everything in moderation

The executive director of the British Coffee Association, Dr. Euan Paul, has said that further research has to be done in order to see how this study can impact on the wider world. He also commented that there is extensive research that depicts that caffeine does raise alertness levels by releasing adrenaline. Although there are many side effects to drinking coffee, coffee is harmless if consumed in moderation. In order to minimise the effects of withdrawal from caffeine, scientists have suggested that one carries on with one’s normal drinking habits. According to Peter Rogers, it is better to either carry on or to stop drinking coffee altogether. So until more research is done, take out your coffee machine and relax with a cup of coffee.

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