Many people tend to consume more coffee and nicotine when they are stressed. A recent study examined whether this is a promising countermeasure or rather counterproductive.
A US research team analyzed the effects of the stimulants caffeine and nicotine on people with high levels of stress and published the results in the journal “Occupational Health Science”. Despite demonstrable advantages, the disadvantages seem to clearly outweigh the disadvantages.
Nicotine and caffeine popular stimulants
Using cross-sectional data from 15,880 U.S. Marines, the researchers examined the question of whether stimulants are more likely to have a beneficial or detrimental effect under extremely stressful conditions.
To do this, they determined possible connections between work stress, the amount of sleep and sleep interruptions that occur, as well as daily caffeine and nicotine consumption with operational readiness and health in the operational environment.
The intake of caffeinated beverages (coffee, soda, tea), energy drinks, caffeine preparations (chewing gum/tablets), tobacco (cigarette/cigar/pipe), electronic nicotine delivery systems (e.g. e-cigarettes) and “smokeless” nicotine (chewing gum/ snuff/plasters/chewing gum).
Different effects
According to the researchers, the effects of the various stimulants on physical and mental health were quite different depending on the level of stress, the amount of sleep and the sleep interruptions.
For example, the stimulants “were associated with either no effects or a significant reduction in functional performance under mission-relevant conditions with moderate levels of stress and poor sleep (…),” the team reports.
In cases of moderate stress and low amounts of sleep (less than 5 hours per day), caffeinated drinks showed beneficial effects on physical and mental health, but in cases of high stress the disadvantages outweighed the disadvantages, the experts continued.
According to the researchers, energy drinks and caffeine preparations were neutral or harmful to health, while tobacco even had a short-term positive effect on physical health in cases of severe sleep disorders, but impaired mental health in cases of low sleep levels.
According to the experts, the smokeless nicotine products had no impact on health. Likewise, e-cigarettes had no effect on physical health, but had advantages and disadvantages for mental health – depending on sleep.
Little benefit, many disadvantages
Overall, under high stress conditions, caffeine brought a significant benefit to operational readiness and health in four percent of cases, while there was a deterioration in 68 percent of cases, the researchers conclude.
Nicotine showed a benefit in seven percent of cases, while it was detrimental in eleven percent of cases, the research team continued.
Even if there are isolated benefits, the stimulants are generally counterproductive because they increase the harmful effects of occupational stress factors on operational readiness and health. (fp)
