Letter to Editor for September 25, 2012
Posted on Sep 25, 2012 in News
To whom it may concern:
Today I read the article by Natasha Mehra on cognitive enhancing drugs (eg, Ritalin, Adderall, etc) and their effect on student exam performance.
I agreed with many of the claims of the article; however, there were several myths about caffeine in particular that were portrayed as fact.
1.) Mehra claimed that “caffeine cannot make you focus”, which was one of the central arguments behind her defense of the use of caffeine as a cognitive enhancing drug.
However, this claim is largely unfounded by research on caffeine; in fact, quite the opposite is true.
In Caffeine: Psychological Effects, Use and Abuse” appearing in Orthomolecular Psychiatry (Volume 10, Issue 3, 1981), the author Stanford Bolton found that:
“Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system first at the higher levels, the cortex and medulla, and finally the spinal cord at higher doses. Mild cortex stimulation appears to be beneficial resulting in more clear thinking and less fatigue.
Caffeine has been shown to improve attention in a study which simulated night driving.”
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that certainly affects attention, focus, alertness, and clearer thinking.
To claim that it has no effect on focus is erroneous. While she is right in that caffeine will help keep you awake (ie, prevent insomnia), she is wrong in asserting that this is the only effect of caffeine intake.
Brandon Sherrod
Thanks for pointing that out. Let me clarify. I didn’t say caffeine has no effect on focus. I said that caffeine cannot make you focus. Caffeine increases alertness, which in turn may help you concentrate better, but it can’t make you focus. It may help you focus, but this is a result of you being more alert. When you are sleepy and try to do homework, it’s hard to concentrate. But after you take a nap, you are more alert, so it’s probably easier for you to focus. We wouldn’t say that naps make you focus. They usually help you focus because you are alert.
The point is that caffeine and Adderall have different levels of effects. Yes, caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, but Adderall does that at a much higher degree. That is why it is only available as a prescription. Tylenol is accessible to everyone for pain, but morphine is not. That is because morphine is much stronger, so it’s a prescription level drug. That’s the difference I was attempting to point out. Drinking a cup of coffee won’t be cheating on an exam. It’s a basic level stimulant. But taking Adderall would be because it is made for people with disorders who are not capable of retaining focus themselves. Coffee would not be the solution for these people.
Natasha Mehra
Also, Check this out.
Does caffeine help you concentrate?Trimethylxanthine is the most widely consumed pharmacologically active substance in the world, and occurs naturally in tea, coffee, cocoa and chocolate products and is added to soft drinks and a variety of prescription and over-the-counter drugs…
What methylxanthines do is to disable an enzyme (phosphodieterase) that would otherwise destroy another substance, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), which works to activate the neurotransmitters in the brain. So once the cAMP is given free rein, the brake on your brain is lifted and it’s all systems go.
But does it help you concentrate?
Without the phosphodieterase brake, caffeine also stimulates the central nervous system: your heart rate, blood pressure, and blood circulation will all increase so it does have a temporary effect on how you feel, and can increase feelings of alertness which, in turn, can make concentration easier – but only in the short term.
This is the effect exploited in drinks like Red Bull, which contains a whopping 80 milligrams of caffeine per can.
But be warned, an excess of caffeine can make you feel jittery and sick, and because it takes around seven hours to leave your system, can interfere with your sleep, too.
In one experiment when a large dose of caffeine was given to a spider, instead of her web being a beautiful spiral, it was a random mess.
So enjoy your caffeinated drinks in moderation, but don’t expect it to compensate for any poor habits – like overwork, inadequate sleep, poor diet – that can impede concentration.
And if you want an alternative kick-start to caffeine, try a large dose of vitamin C – which also blocks phosphodieterase, and elevates levels of cAMP in the brain to similar effect! – but without the caffeine effect.
http://theartofconcentration.blogspot.com/2010/04/does-caffeine-help-you-concentrate.html