Caffeine Consuming Children and Adolescents Show Altered Sleep Behavior and Deep Sleep

Brain Sciences

Andrina Aepli¹  Salome Kurth²  Noemi Tesler¹  Oskar G. Jenni¹  Reto Huber¹ 

[1] Child Development Center, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland; E-Mails:;Sleep and Development Laboratory, Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder, 354 UCB Boulder, 80309 Boulder, CO, USA; E-Mail:

关键词: caffeine;    sleep EEG topography;    development;    children;    adolescents;    slow-wave activity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/brainsci5040441

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Caffeine is the most commonly ingested psychoactive drug worldwide with increasing consumption rates among young individuals. While caffeine leads to decreased sleep quality in adults, studies investigating how caffeine consumption affects children’s and adolescents’ sleep remain scarce. We explored the effects of regular caffeine consumption on sleep behavior and the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) in children and adolescents (10–16 years). While later habitual bedtimes (Caffeine 23:14 ± 11.4, Controls 22:17 ± 15.4) and less time in bed were found in caffeine consumers compared to the control group (Caffeine 08:10 ± 13.3, Controls 09:03 ± 16.1), morning tiredness was unaffected. Furthermore, caffeine consumers exhibited reduced sleep EEG slow-wave activity (SWA, 1–4.5 Hz) at the beginning of the night compared to controls (20% ± 9% average reduction across all electrodes and subjects). Comparable reductions were found for alpha activity (8.25–9.75 Hz). These effects, however, disappeared in the morning hours. Our findings suggest that caffeine consumption in adolescents may lead to later bedtimes and reduced SWA, a well-established marker of sleep depth. Because deep sleep is involved in recovery processes during sleep, further research is needed to understand whether a caffeine-induced loss of sleep depth interacts with neuronal network refinement processes that occur during the sensitive period of adolescent development.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.