Cardiac autonomic activity during sleep deprivation with and without caffeine administration

Caffeine is often consumed to mitigate degraded alertness associated with sleep deprivation. Both caffeine and sleep deprivation have been implicated in cardiovascular disease, but evidence is largely anecdotal. We determined the effects of sleep deprivation and caffeine on markers of cardiac autonomic activity. Twelve healthy young adults completed an 18-day laboratory study. They were exposed to three 48 h sessions of acute total sleep...