{"id":24493,"date":"2018-06-13T10:49:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T14:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=24493"},"modified":"2022-03-16T10:58:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:58:33","slug":"algorithm-right-amount-of-coffee-for-peak-alertness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/algorithm-right-amount-of-coffee-for-peak-alertness\/","title":{"rendered":"Algorithm Shows Right Amount of Coffee to Drink for Peak Alertness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drinking the right amount of coffee can be a tricky task. If you don\u2019t drink enough, you could sleepwalk through the day, but if you drink too much, you can become wired and lightheaded. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those days may be behind us. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Researchers have developed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2018\/06\/180604093116.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an algorithm<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that is pivotal to maximizing alertness with caffeine. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The technique could help sleep-deprived people drink a safe, but effective, amount of coffee each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe algorithm allows us to take full advantage of the restorative effects of caffeine,\u201d said <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thetatrc\/photos\/pb.596641243687818.-2207520000.1450483542.\/1080834058601865\/?type=1&amp;theater\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jaques Reifman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a senior research scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe showed through simulations and comparisons with previous laboratory studies that, by consuming caffeine at optimal times and amounts, we can achieve the same alertness while consuming up to 65 percent less caffeine or increase alertness by 65 percent, while using the same total amount of caffeine as in the laboratory studies,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The algorithm<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system has two components. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first component is a mathematical model that takes an individual\u2019s sleep and caffeine history and predicts future alertness levels. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second is an optimization algorithm, which uses the mathematical model to sort through thousands of potential caffeine intake strategies and identify the best one. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe ingenuity here, from one of our scientists, is that we are able to explore thousands of potential caffeine-schedule strategies in a matter of seconds, as opposed to days or hours, had we used standard optimization approaches,\u201d said Reifman. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The algorithm was tested for efficiency by computing and comparing caffeine dosing strategies used in four previously published studies on sleep loss. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For each past study, the researchers tested two dosing strategies. Both strategies involved testing alertness levels through psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) performance tests. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the first strategy, the researchers tested people\u2019s alertness after giving them the same total amount of caffeine as used in the previous studies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second strategy used information from the new algorithm to optimize caffeine intake. The subjects were able to consume a lower amount of caffeine and perform just as well on the PVT tests. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers claim that the algorithm identified methods to enhance neurobehavioral performance by up to 64 percent. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results suggest that the algorithm can be used to find the most effective timing and dosage strategy for any particular sleep\/wake cycle. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While this technology is not yet available for the general public, that step may not be far away. The researchers already claim that it is suited for mobile computing platforms. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The motivation<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This research was primarily initiated to help U.S. service members. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAbout 40 percent of U.S. service members sleep less than five hours per night on a regular basis, while the required sleep to fully restore one\u2019s mental acuity is between seven and eight hours per night,\u201d said Reifman. \u201cNevertheless, many military tasks requires considerable vigilance, even when our warfighters are sleep deprived.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers developed this algorithm because a large amount of military personnel, and about 85 percent of people in the general public, consume the equivalent of two cups of coffee a day, said Reifman. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe sought to develop a mathematical algorithm that could safely identify when and how much caffeine an individual should consume, so as to optimize mental acuity at the desired times of the day for the desired duration, in spite of being sleep deprived,\u201d said Reifman.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drinking the right amount of coffee can be a tricky task. If you don\u2019t drink enough, you could sleepwalk through the day, but if you drink too much, you can become wired and lightheaded. Those days may be behind us. Researchers have developed an algorithm that is pivotal to maximizing alertness with caffeine. The technique [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":24501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[661,662,678,665,622,230,229,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ace-college","category-ace-high-school","category-health-wellness-ace-high-school","category-health-wellness","category-nutrition","category-news","category-lead-stories","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jackson Schroeder","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/jackson-schroeder\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Drinking the right amount of coffee can be a tricky task. If you don\u2019t drink enough, you could sleepwalk through the day, but if you drink too much, you can become wired and lightheaded. Those days may be behind us. Researchers have developed an algorithm that is pivotal to maximizing alertness with caffeine. The technique&hellip;","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/coffee-alertness.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}