According to an article from huliq.com, the results of the study say that “caffeine is a ‘psycho stimulant’ that suppresses the innate adenosine mediated drive to sleep.'”
The study — conducted by the British Medican Journal — began in December 2008 and concluded in May 2011 and studied 530 long-distance commercial drivers in Australia and New South Wales who had recently been involved in a crash that had been investigated by police and 517 commercial truck drivers who had not been involved in an accident in the previous year, says the Huliq article.
Researches adjusted for age, health problems and sleeping habits. They also adjusted for use of illegal stimulants like amphetamine, ecstasy and cocaine.
Though the study’s results point to caffeine as a means to making drivers more alert and, thus, safer, it can disrupt quality and quantity of sleep when used in excess, it says.
Click here to read the results of the study on BJM’s website.
For more on coffee and trucking, see Overdrive‘s “The Daily Grind: When trucking and coffee intersect” article from June 2012.
