A new research suggests drinking coffee every four hours helps to improve seasonal affective disorder, reports Independent.
The research, a survey of 5,000 adults across the UK, Italy, Finland, Germany and Poland has found that lifestyle and diet choices can have an impact on low mood as the days get shorter.
Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) commissioned the study, which found that almost a third of adults experience depression or increased feelings of sadness (28 per cent) as daylight hours decrease.
A fifth of people said, they feel more anxious as the days get shorter (21 per cent), while 24 per cent said they find it hard to concentrate, and 25 per cent said they lose motivation to exercise.
Researchers at the University of Catania, Italy reviewed previous findings that lifestyle measures such as a good diet and regular exercise can improve mood.
They found that, consuming 75mg of caffeine – the equivalent of one cup of coffee – every four hours, could result in a pattern of sustained mood improvement over the course of the day.
The findings also indicated that regular coffee intake could increase alertness and improve cognitive behaviours.
Of those surveyed by the ISIC, 20 per cent of adults said they felt that their mood improved after drinking coffee.
29 per cent said they felt more energised, while 21 per cent said it helped them feel more alert and to concentrate better.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
