Nighttime Caffeine Linked to Increased Impulsivity

 


Nighttime Caffeine Linked to Increased Impulsivity


A new UTEP study on fruit flies suggests consuming coffee at night can lead to reckless behavior, with females showing a greater effect.


Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have published a new study in the journal iScience revealing a link between nighttime caffeine consumption and increased impulsivity. The study, led by a team of UTEP biologists, used fruit flies to demonstrate how caffeine consumed after dark can lead to reckless actions, providing new insights into the substance's complex effects on behavioral control.

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To understand caffeine's impact, the team designed experiments introducing caffeine into the diets of fruit flies at various doses and times, including day versus night. They measured impulsivity by observing if the flies could suppress their movement when exposed to a strong, unpleasant airflow. "Under normal circumstances, flies stop moving when exposed to strong airflow," said Erick Saldes, Ph.D., a lead author. "We found that flies consuming caffeine at night were less able to suppress movement, displaying impulsive behaviors such as reckless flying."

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Notably, the study found that daytime caffeine did not cause the same impulsive effect. The team also discovered a significant sex difference, with female flies showing much greater impulsivity than males, despite having similar levels of caffeine in their bodies. "Flies don't have human hormones like estrogen, suggesting that other genetic or physiological factors are driving the heightened sensitivity in females," explained Professor Kyung-An Han.

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This research comes as caffeine remains the world's most popular psychoactive drug, with about 85% of U.S. adults consuming it regularly. "Given caffeine's popularity, we wanted to explore whether additional factors influence its impact on behavioral control," stated Paul Sabandal, Ph.D., one of the study's authors. The use of fruit flies is a powerful model for such studies due to their genetic and neural parallels with humans.

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The team warns that these findings could have serious implications for individuals who rely on caffeine to work at night, such as shift workers, healthcare professionals, and military personnel—particularly females who may be at higher risk. Future research will aim to uncover the specific mechanisms that cause this heightened, sex-specific sensitivity to caffeine's effects on behavior.


Disclaimer: The health tips shared on this blog are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine. Content is based on publicly available sources and edited for clarity.

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