No Coffee For Me, I’ll Just Sniff Yours

It may not be the caffeine that makes sleepy people crave a cup of Java. According to a team of scientists led by Yoshinori Masuo at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan, just the smell of coffee may be enough to reverse the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain.

An examination of the brains of sleep-deprived mice revealed reduced levels of mRNA (messenger molecules that indicate when a gene is being expressed) for eleven genes important to brain function. When the mice were exposed to the aroma of coffee, the mRNA for nine of the genes was restored to near-normal levels–and pushed to above normal levels for two!

If the same genes are suppressed in sleep-deprived humans, says Masuo, it may explain why people feel bad when they haven’t had enough sleep. Further, that gene reactivation could explain why people love the smell of coffee. His team is currently working to identify the specific molecules in coffee aroma that affect gene expression, in hopes of pumping them into factories to help revive tired workers, thus eliminating the need for “coffee breaks.” Is nothing sacred?