App released for caffeine conscious coffee drinkers

Chris Taylor

15/02/2012 14:32:40

Those constantly living in fear that they spend way too much time hanging around the cappuccino maker can now sleep easy, as a new app is to tell people when they’ve had too much caffeine.

Doctors at Pennsylvania State University have developed Caffeine Zone, a free iOS app that will suggest when coffee lovers can indulge in a cup to keep their caffeine intake at an optimum level.

The app is an important development, says Frank Ritter, one of the app’s developers and university professors, as “many people don’t understand how caffeine levels in their bloodstream go up and how they go down,” he told GantDaily.com.

Caffeine Zone collects information on caffeine intake and then processes the likely effects on the body and mental alertness, which is displayed as a graph.

Studies of caffeine drinkers found that between 200 and 400 milligrams is the optimum level for metal alertness; something which the researches refer to as being in the “zone”. Those looking to sleep should make sure that they have no more than 100 milligrams in their system before rest.

Ritter argued that it’s important for some workers to know how much caffeine may be in their bloodstream more than others. Those who might work night shifts, or have short bouts of sleep in between duties, live naval personnel, for example.

“If they, and others who drink coffee to stay awake, drink too much coffee on one shift, they may have trouble sleeping,” said Ritter. “So, the next day, they’ll drink even more coffee and have even more trouble sleeping.”

Extreme Tech adds that the app can never be 100 per cent accurate though; on account of the difference body sizes, liver function, age and so on. However on average, consuming a large filter coffee, that contains around 240mg of caffeine, will have diminished to around 120mg five to six hours later.