Coffee lovers are quick to tout the health benefits of their favorite beverage: It lifts mood and may even protect against certain cancers.
And new research from Johns Hopkins University says that besides giving you a little extra pep, caffeine also serves as a memory enhancer.
Caffeine is the most popular central nervous stimulant in the world. About 80 percent of people in the U.S. consume caffeine in some form every day, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The average adult takes in about 200 milligrams, or about one strong cup of coffee, per day.
How Coffee Boosts Memory
The Johns Hopkins research team found that caffeine can enhance certain memories for up to 24 hours after it's consumed.“We've always known that caffeine has cognitive-enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans,” senior author Michael Yassa, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, said in a statement.
Participants in the double-blind trial didn’t regularly consume caffeine, but for the study they were given either a 200-milligram caffeine tablet or a placebo five minutes after studying a series of images.
Unlike with most other studies on the effects of caffeine, these researchers administered caffeine after the memorization task, not before. They said this would eliminate the effects of increased attention, focus, or vigilance caused by the caffeine.
“By administering caffeine after the experiment, we rule out all of these effects and make sure that if there is an enhancement, it's due to memory and nothing else,” Yassa said.
Researchers took saliva samples from the participants one, three, and 24-hours after they took their pills to measure their caffeine levels. The research was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
So drink coffee for better memory...
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