By Harsh Dave
Every morning people around the world enjoy a boost of alertness by consuming caffeine. It’s like a ritual, whether its sharing cups of tea or pouring fresh coffee into the same mug every morning. While caffeine consumption is not at all uncommon, the average daily consumption of caffeine by adults in the US is about three times higher than the rest of the world! It’s safe to say that consuming caffeine is a big part of our culture. Caffeine works by blocking a chemical in the brain called adenosine. Adenosine builds during the day while you’re awake, and high concentrations pressure your brain into sleep. At the end of the night have you ever felt suddenly sleepy even if you wanted to stay awake, like someone turned on a switch that makes it so you can’t help but close your eyes? That feeling is the adenosine being released into your brain. We can drink coffee to keep that from happening, but the closer one consumes caffeine to bedtime, the more disruptive it can be to the sleep cycle, and it’s more likely you’ll be unable to fall asleep when you want to.
By blocking the chemical that helps induce sleep, the effect of caffeine disrupts your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that keeps count of the time that you regularly sleep, and the time that you usually wake up in the morning. Caffeine close to bedtime will push that clock back by force, and even though you feel sleepy, you can’t sleep. It’s a minor inconvenience for adults, who are more likely to keep to regular schedules and whose minds are already fully developed, but we can’t say the same for children.
Children’s minds are still developing, and their schedules are so packed and hectic that it’s impossible for them maintain a regular sleep schedule, especially as they become older and more independent. Caffeine becomes an easy option for young people. The temporary wakefulness that it provides is extraordinarily useful and we use it as adults all the time, so it’s hard to say no. A deep restful sleep is extremely important for a developing mind, so we should do our best to discourage our kids from using caffeine at early ages. Caffeine has profound effects on how we sleep, and we should increase our awareness around it so that we can create the best environment for ourselves and the ones care for.
