Study Claims Coffee Helps Reduce Sleepiness, Draws Flak On Reddit

What do you do when you have a pressing task lined up ahead of you but have also not slept properly the night before? The answer is simple; quickly fix yourself a cup of coffee before your brain gives up. Coffee is known to give you an instant energy boost, an effect that is attributed to the presence of caffeine in the beans. A latest study published in Scientific Reports, further affirmed the effect of caffeine of drowsiness. The study said that caffeine, in moderate amount, not only reduces drowsiness but could also disrupt the detrimental impact sleepiness has on your cognitive performance.

In the study, researchers Eugene Aidman and his team studied a group of sleep-deprived subjects. It was found that those participants who were given regular doses of caffeine performed comparatively better on a simulated driving task compared to subjects who were not given any caffeine, this suggesting that caffeine doses are not just helpful in keeping you awake for long when you are sleepy, but also boost your brain function.

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While coffee lovers can certainly rejoice at the findings of the new study, some reddit users found it tad bizarre that a group of scientists studied something that is apparently a commonly known phenomenon.

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“I believe this was already known by caffeine drinkers”, wrote a user.

“Good science is repeatable. I test this hypothesis every morning”, wrote another.
“It certainly seems like a commonly known thing” said a user who didn’t sound too impressed either.
“Yeah, I was thinking the headline deserves a “Captain Obvious” award”, replied another.

The thread also found many supporters,

“Yeah, many of the comments here are embarrassingly bad. A person’s guess, intuition, or common sense doesn’t remove the need for scientific investigation,” wrote a user in defense.

“Science is not about discovering new things that nobody would ever think about. Verifying «common knowledge» is just as important. We’ve seen many times throughout history that common knowledge is in fact not so true, and the exact opposite of what everyone knew was the actual truth. Also, studies like this can help us understand why”, wrote another.

(This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.)