The Effects of Caffeine on Heart Rate Variability (Research Paper Sample)

THE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE ON HEART RATE VARIABILITY By (Student’s Name) Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City, State Date Abstract People’s affinity for caffeinated beverages has augmented worldwide. Thus scientists have tirelessly tried to determine the potential upshots of caffeine on individuals’ heart rate variability. The sole aim of the current research is to showcase how 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine affects people’s heart rate variability. The study’s sample size consisted of 79 human subjects (40 non-habitual and 30 habitual consumers of caffeinated coffee) with 65% of the participants being women. Respondents were subjected to three randomized laboratory examinations (1 caffeine-centric test and 2 placebos (1 decaffeinated coffee and 1 water-based protocol). The inquest’s designer discovered that caffeine vastly increases individuals’ heart rates, thereby considerably lowering people’s heart rate variability. Subsequently, clinicians should be cautious when administering caffeine-containing nostrums to patients with pre-existing cardiovascular anomalies. Keywords: Caffeine, Heart Rate Variability, 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine The Effects of Caffeine on Heart Rate Variability Introduction People’s affinities for caffeinated drinks like coffee continue to ameliorate steadily in contemporary societies due to the beverages’ organoleptic characteristics and stimulating effects. Although only a few researchers have carried out scientific surveys solely aimed at assessing caffeine’s (1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine) effects on people’s heart rate variability (HRV), the findings of presently existing scholarly works on the aforementioned topic remain vastly inconsistent thus making it challenging to utilize such results to inform the formulation of health-promoting clinical policies by modern sanatoriums’ cardiology departments. Some scholars have associated caffeine ingestion with higher HRV while the works of other scientists indicate that 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine considerably lowers and even rarely alters individuals’ heart rate variability. Sturdily anchored on the premise that regular caffeine intakes can substantively truncate people’s HRV scores regardless of its consumers’ confounding factors like socio-demographic features or the pre-existence of cardiovascular anomalies, this reading’s sole purpose will be to evaluate how 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine influences people’s heart rate variability. Literature Review The human cardiovascular system is inherently regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Thus HRV is often considered as the equilibrium between the parasympathetic and sympathetic activities of the ANS, which plays a pivotal role in facilitating heart rate control. Upon administering 7.4g and 10g of white and dark chocolate (70% caffeine-containing cocoa) respectively to respondents and later measuring participants’ sympathovagal balances through symbolic and spectral analysis, Duarte et al. (2016, p. 765) unearthed sturdy evidence that 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine greatly lowers people's heart rates, thereby increasing their HRV. Conversely, caffeinated coffee consumers, primarily those who ingest ≥3 cups of this beverage daily, have higher heart rates, which vastly truncate their HRV index values (De Oliveira et al., 2017, p.1). Moreover, a prospective study by Ulanovsky et al. (2014, p.620) on 21 newborns diagnosed with apnea to assess caffeine’s influence on patients' HRV, postulates that while 1, 3, 7-trimethylxanthine substantively augments one’s breathing frequency, it does not have any clinically significant effects on individuals’ heart rate variability. Study Design, Results, and Discussion The current inquest’s sample size included 79 healthy human subjects (39 habitual and 40 non-habitual consumers of caffeinated coffee) with a mean age of 25 years, where 65% of respondents were women. Participants were subjected to three randomized laboratory tests consisting of 1 caffeine-centric experiment and 2 placebos (decaffeinated coffee and water) after appending their respective signatures on survey forms as evidence of participatory consent. During the initial laboratory protocol, subjects ingested 1x3 cups of caffeinated coffee. In the subsequent examination, respondents consumed decaffeinated coffee with participants taking warm water in the last experiment. Subjects’ HRV indices were thoroughly evaluated at rest 10 minutes before and then after the respondents consumed their respective beverages. The data was later analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. The HRV of 10 participants in the non-habitual caffeine consumer group slightly augmented with that of the other 30 respondents in the same category remaining unchanged upon the subjects’ ingestion of water and decaffeinated c...