Scientists from the National University of Singapore examined a region of the hippocampus brain called CA2, which is responsible for social memory, that is, the ability to recognize familiar individuals. Experiments have shown that sleep-deprived mice are less able to recognize other mice. However, those who received caffeine for a week before sleep deprivation did not show such impairment.
In addition, even when caffeine applied directly to the brain tissue of mice that were already suffering from sleep deprivation, there was an improvement in signaling in this area.
Scientists explain that lack of sleep enhances the effects of adenosine, a substance associated with drowsiness and suppression of memory formation mechanisms. Caffeine reduces this effect, which was confirmed in the study.
The authors emphasize that so far we are only talking about experiments on animals, and the results need to be tested in humans. However, they suggest that regular caffeine consumption may help protect memory against short-term sleep deprivation.
In the future, these data may be useful for studying the connection between sleep disturbances and the risk of dementia, since memory problems are often associated with disruption of the same brain mechanisms.
