Khaberni - A study conducted by researchers from the National University of Singapore showed that caffeine can partially restore memory impaired due to lack of sleep.
During the experiments, the scientists simulated sleep deprivation in a laboratory environment, then administered caffeine to the participants for a week, and subjected them to medical examinations with a focus on the hippocampus in the brain, specifically the CA2 area, which plays a key role in forming social memory.
The researchers found that sleep deprivation disrupts synaptic plasticity - the ability of nerve cells to communicate effectively with each other, leading to a decline in memory and the ability to recognize familiar people. However, caffeine helps restore these processes, as its consumption reinstates the links between neurons to their natural state, and memory disorders disappear.
The researchers explained this effect by noting that caffeine inhibits adenosine receptors - signals that accumulate during wakefulness and suppress brain activity, and observed that its effect is selective: it restored the damaged neural circuits without causing excessive stimulation.
The study's organizers affirm that these results do not imply that coffee can replace sufficient sleep, but they do show that caffeine can impact specific mechanisms of memory degradation due to lack of sleep and may be used to support cognitive functions.
