The Study
Both acute and chronic caffeine consumption affect cardiovascular responses to total sleep deprivation
This study is like a fair test where people got either caffeine or a fake drink while staying awake all night, and scientists measured their heart and blood pressure. It shows caffeine made their blood pressure go up during sleep loss, but it doesn't prove caffeine causes heart disease over time.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
When you stay up all night, your body gets stressed — your blood pressure goes up and your blood vessels don't work as well. Drinking coffee during that time makes your blood pressure go even higher and increases inflammation, but doesn't fix your blood vessels. If you drink a lot of coffee every day, your blood pressure and inflammation are already higher — even before you pull an all-nighter.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 567 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — even healthy people who drink 3+ cups of coffee daily show signs of vascular stress during sleep loss, which could raise long-term heart disease risk.
- 2After 38 hours without sleep: blood pressure rose significantly; caffeine made it rise more; IL-6 (inflammation marker) increased with caffeine; people who drank >300 mg caffeine/day had higher blood pressure and worse blood vessel function than low consumers.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
Year
2026
Authors
Lise Mateo, Pierre-Emmanuel Tardo-Dino, D. Gomez-Mérino, C. Drogou, Pierre-Emmanuel Josse, Mégane Erblang, Philipe Colin, M. Erkel, P. van Beers, Damien Léger, C. Bourrilhon, M. Chennaoui, F. Sauvet
Related Content
Claims (6)
Drinking too much coffee or energy drinks over a long time can keep your body in 'fight or flight' mode, making your heart race and increasing your chances of irregular heartbeats and heart strain.
People who regularly consume more than 300 mg of caffeine per day show higher systolic blood pressure, faster heart rate, elevated plasma interleukin-6, and reduced blood vessel dilation during total sleep deprivation, even when they have not consumed caffeine recently.
Thirty-eight hours without sleep raises blood pressure, heart rate, and interleukin-6 levels, and lowers skin blood flow responses in healthy adults.
When people are completely deprived of sleep and consume caffeine, their skin blood vessel responses to signals from the endothelium and direct stimuli do not change significantly.
In healthy adults deprived of sleep for 38 hours, taking caffeine at two specific times increases blood pressure and raises levels of the inflammatory marker interleukin-6 compared to taking a placebo.
People who regularly consume more than 300 mg of caffeine per day show reduced blood vessel dilation in response to acetylcholine when completely sleep deprived, compared to those who do not, even when accounting for recent caffeine intake.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.