Discussion on the paper (57 points, 9 days ago, 47 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44131411
“They compared each participant’s brain activity on two separate nights — one when they consumed caffeine capsules three hours and then one hour before bedtime, and another when they took a placebo at the same times.”
As someone who consumes lots of coffee I worry a little about that and always read caffeine articles but in this case doesn’t everyone already know caffeine right before bed is a bad idea?
Caffeine has a long half life. Some experts recommend you stop by 11am. Not everyone knows that
Shouldn't the recommendation depend on when you go to sleep, rather than a blanket recommendation for a specific time?
I wonder if there’s a tolerance that builds over time which would also lead to the middle aged / older cohort being less affected than the younger one.
Not really. Caffeine tolerance builds over a period of days and dissipates over a similar period, roughly 72 hours. The article actually touches on the effect, and it has to do with a reduction of adenosine receptors in middle-aged participants.
> “Adenosine receptors naturally decrease with age, reducing caffeine’s ability to block them and improve brain complexity, which may partly explain the reduced effect of caffeine observed in middle-aged participants,” Carrier said.
But, old people, who have taken coffee have good mental health, contrary to alcohol drinkers.