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Coffee please

Army study underlines caffeine's effectiveness

Bailey Allen, an Army veteran and college student, enjoys a cup of coffee before beginning a three-hour class. Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

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The Army wants you awake.

Since World War II, military scientists have conducted experiments to determine how to keep servicemembers awake despite a lack of sleep.

Recent research suggests that coffee -- the most widely consumed stimulant in the world -- may provide a way to keep military members (to say nothing of doctors, pilots and police officers) alert and working at their most efficient when short on shut-eye.

Army scientists at the Medical Research and Materiel Command's Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute (BHSAI) have developed an algorithm to harness the power lift of the nation's favorite stimulant.

Dr. Jaques Reifman, a senior research scientist at the institute, and his team created an algorithm to utilize the restorative effects of caffeine to fight the fatigue of sleep deprivation.

An algorithm is a sequence of instructions telling a computer what to do.

"If you could come to work, drink caffeine and have your mental acuity improved by 40 percent for four hours, wouldn't you like that?" Reifman recently asked the Wall Street Journal.

He and his team of scientists built their algorithm by evaluating caffeine-dosing strategies detailed in a number of previous experimental sleep-loss studies.

The Army team identified the strategies that would either enhance neurobehavioral performance or reduce caffeine consumption.

"Our algorithm is the first quantitative tool that provides automated, customized guidance for safe and effective caffeine dosing to maximize alertness at the most needed times during any sleep-loss condition."

In other words, servicemembers and first responders can predict how much caffeine they need to remain alert while at the same time not ingesting so much caffeine that they are unable to sleep.

The strategies generated by the algorithm regarding how much coffee to consume, will vary depending on a number of circumstances.

To do this, the algorithm first predicts an individual's alertness based on their recent levels of sleep and caffeine. It then computes the benefits of different amounts of caffeine consumed at various times of the day.

"We can do simulations of thousands of combinations of when and how much caffeine to give," continued Reifman.

"Then we pick the best solution."

The algorithm is now being assessed with soldiers in training.  

Civilians will wait a bit longer to tailor their own caffeine consumption. While the Army intends to license the technology, the only public option available is a simplified version at the website 2B Alert, where individuals can test the effects of different combination of sleep and caffeine on alertness.

The complete findings of the study were published May 28 in the Journal of Sleep Research and can be found at onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

Credits: The Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.

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