Caffeine reduces the sleep duration of adolescents

While coffee and tea are not common in the diet of children and adolescents, this does not mean that caffeine is absent in it. Quite the contrary, since cola drinks, energy drinks or certain products derived from cocoa have a presence and, sometimes, excessive, which can affect the dream.

In order to demonstrate if a high consumption of caffeine would be related to a shorter duration of sleep among adolescents of 13 years, as well as to identify sources of caffeine, a joint team analyzed the data obtained from 1,522 valid self-administered questionnaires, in which the diet was evaluated through a food frequency form.

In the sample, the average intake of caffeine was 23.1 mg / day, with soft drinks as the main source. Cold tea was at the top with 33 percent, followed by cola drinks with 21 percent. As for the products derived from cocoa, the contribution of chocolate bars was 5.1 percent and that of snacks of 3.0 percent.

Teens who reported less sleep and those who spent more hours watching television during the weekend had a much higher caffeine intake. Considering more than 9.5 hours of sleep as a reference, for each increase of 10 mg / day in the intake of caffeine, the probability of sleeping 8.5 hours or less increased by 1.12, so the researchers concluded that the data confirmed their hypothesis about the inverse relationship between caffeine consumption and sleep duration in adolescents.