Students are in sleep withdrawal. Is caffeine a healthy coping mechanism?

A graphic of students sleep amounts (Sophia Nagra, The Puma Prensa)

Written By: Sophia Nagra, staff writer

I’m an addict, and I am willing to bet you are too.

I am addicted to coffee, to a point where I can’t function without it, despite being only fifteen. I yearn for the boost of energy I get from a cold brew or morning Nespresso: it is my instant dopamine. Without it, I long for the comfortable haven beyond reality that I can only enter in REM sleep.

It’s seven a.m. on a Monday and the dreaded alarm seems to hate me. It knows I only got six hours of sleep, that I’m still not done with all my work, that if I don’t wake up right now-- I will fall behind. I feel a pang of guilt surge through my body snoozing the alarm, a bad habit and band-aid solution that can leave us grouchier than when the first blare rang out.

I wake up, unable to fully open my eyes or stand still-- until I make my coffee. 

The cycle never ends. 

With notions of dream colleges and planning a future looming in the back of our minds, extracurricular activities and advanced classes are increasingly popular. Sonoma County doctor, Prabreet Kaur: a child and adult psychiatrist, understands that many students are consumed by due dates and grades. However, she finds that “if [one] [wakes] up at six or seven o’clock, they need to go to bed at ten o’clock or sooner.” Most are familiar with the short term effects of a lack of sufficient sleep: increased anxiety and stress, and poor concentration. Kaur knows that “it might be harder to focus in class; you might find yourself tired at the end of the day.” This norm of exhaustion in the later periods of the day is abnormal and suffocating, making it “[difficult] to participate in day-to-day life.”

Now at a crossroads: you must choose to prioritize your future health or your future “success”. Most are willing to give up their necessary sleep for grade maintenance, or resume building. While balance is key, it is your choice to prioritize a certain matter, both detrimental if not attended to.

If you choose to limit your sleep consistently, the chance of  early-age “dementia or certain neurological diseases” are increased, Kaur emphasizes. 

 School psychologist Darcy Analora describes ten to thirteen hours of sleep each night as the necessary amount “for optimal cognitive benefit and physical growth” for teenagers. This runs the risk of falling behind in classes and the ultimate trajectory for future goals, should one strive to achieve these standards of health.

While most teenagers carry the weight of completing most work at night, Analora states that naturally, humans are “diurnal creatures”. This means that biologically, we were made to rise with the sun and go down with it. 

Many students feel the need to be nocturnal, given the workload that increases each school year.  Ivy Dutcher, a senior and avid Yerba Mate and caffeine consumer at Maria Carrillo High School agrees that feeling sleep-deprived at school can affect one’s focus and overall performance. It is easy for school work to consume you, making it all you live and breathe. To find a balance between one’s life outside and in school, Dutcher suggests going to sleep at a set time each night, and making a list to visualize necessary tasks.

As a teenager, it can often feel as though we are overtasked, with a lack of sufficient time to finish work while simultaneously attending to our own basic necessities. By wrestling with the natural system of one’s body by staying up later than the sun due to afternoon caffeine consumption, the evolving brain becomes flooded with energy that amplifies its emotional responses.

Analora asserts that “with teenagers, [the front] of their brain is…asleep,” lacking all the cognitive amenities that are present as an adult. She conveys that, “what’s running you is your amygdala: your emotion centers. That’s why teens are generally a little more emotional, a little more dramatic,” she explains, validating the stereotype. The brain, responsible for much of the backlash and poor reputation of this age group, is too often dismissed when approaching daily decisions and reacting to others. Analora illustrates that “everyday you have new brain synapses’ that are firing off. Our bodies go through a biological change every seven years,” making teenage functions and behavior mostly unpredictable.

The endless and demanding cycle of work, stress, and a necessity for attendance and alertness is nearly impossible to break. Many complain that certain classes offer too much homework, that being a straight-A student is not sustainable the older you get. Analalora recommends “making small changes…[tapering] off the negative behaviors and [replacing] them with the positive behaviors” to get out of the cycle. By cutting an afternoon Starbucks run and replacing it with a true physical run paired with a high protein snack, Analora proposes increased energy and a healthier lifestyle with reduced sugar cravings. Additionally, she confirms that the stimulus caffeine should not be consumed after 2:30 in the afternoon, as it alters one’s natural sleep patterns. However, these rules don’t apply for those with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, in which caffeine acts the opposite of what it does for an adult brain. “For ADHD kids, [caffeine] actually helps them focus. It has the same compound as what is in the ritalin and some…other ADHD medications,” says Analora. While for many, the stimulation can overexcite, leaving one distracted or dependent, it also contains hidden benefits that can be unlocked by the chemistry of one’s brain. The main issue arises when combined with consumption of sugar, especially when taken in excess.

In truth, according to Analora,“High school is more about being able to work with other people, learning time management, task initiation, all those executive functions and adaptive skills,” opposed to most vital skills which are said to have technically been taught by sixth grade. She wants students to know that the premise of high school’s importance “is your ability to be a functioning member of the community.” Everything is healthy in moderation, but the choices of balance and priority are yours to make.