Coffee’s Jolt: It May Be All in Your Head

Many regular coffee drinkers think that their daily dose of java makes them more alert and improves their ability to function and their memory.  A new study published in the June 2010 issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology  suggests that the extra boost of energy we think we get from coffee, and even the increased anxiety some people experience, might be the result of a combination of caffeine addiction and a trick of perception.

The bottom line is that for those who are addicted, caffeine brings them up to normal levels of alertness, but it probably doesn’t give them an edge over those who abstain from caffeine.

The study, conducted at the University of Bristol in England, compared two groups of people. Some were regular coffee drinkers, but others rarely consumed coffee.  The researchers had the participants stay away from coffee for a period before the study, then gave some of the participants regular caffeinated coffee and gave the rest a placebo.  Before and after drinking the coffee or the placebo, the participants were all tested for anxiety, alertness, and memory.

What they found was that the coffee addicts who had gotten the placebo did show decreases in their performance.  According to the researchers, the reduction in alertness was an expectable symptom of withdrawal.  When these coffee drinkers were then given real caffeine, their performance did improve—but they were just brought up to the same level as those who never consumed caffeine.

So, will drinking that cup of coffee in the morning help you do your job better?  This study suggests that if you’re already a regular coffee drinker, maintaining your caffeine habit will prevent you from doing your job worse.  But if you’ve been thinking of kicking the caffeine habit, it just might be the case that your decreased alertness will only last as long as your withdrawal does.

Earlier this year, several studies reported in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested that there might be more health benefits to coffee drinking than was earlier thought, so you might just want to wait until science has more to tell us.