Caffeine reversal of sleep deprivation effects on alertness, mood and repeated sprint performances in physical education students

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of caffeine ingestion and partial sleep deprivation on mood and cognitive and physical performances. In randomised order, 12 healthy male physical education students completed four test sessions at 18:00h after placebo or 5mg/kg of caffeine ingestion during a baseline night (RN) (bed time: from 22:00 to 07:00h), or during a night of partial (four hrs) sleep deprivation (PSD). During each test session, participants performed a reaction time test, a vigilance test, the 10 s Wingate cycling test during (measuring peak power (PP) and anaerobic capacity), and the 5 m multiple shuttle test (measuring peak distance (PD), total distance (TD), and fatigue index (FI)). Compared to RN, simple reaction time, vigilance, PP, PD, TD, and FI were altered by PSD the following day after placebo ingestion with increased reaction time and FI and reduced PP, PD, TD, and vigilance (p<0.001). Moreover, during PSD condition, PP, PD, and TD were significantly higher after caffeine ingestion in comparison with placebo ingestion (p<0.05). However, both simple reaction times and vigilance were significantly lower after caffeine ingestion in comparison with placebo during PSD (p<0.05). Caffeineis an effective strategy to maintain physical and cognitive performances the day after PSD.