The Effect of Caffeine Consumption on Academic Stress, Quality of Life and Cognitive Reappraisal among University Students

Abstract

The present study examined the effect of caffeine consumption on academic stress, sleep quality, and cognitive reappraisal among university students in Pakistan. A quantitative, cross sectional research design was employed with a sample of 300 university students (M = 150, F = 150) drawn from public and private universities in the Federal and Punjab regions of Pakistan using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. Academic stress was measured using the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (Bedewy & Gabriel, 2015), sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Buysse et al., 1989), and cognitive reappraisal was measured using the cognitive reappraisal, subscale of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003). Daily caffeine consumption was recorded through a self-constructed demographic information sheet and categorized into three groups: no caffeine consumption, one cup per day, and two or more cups per day. The findings revealed significant differences across caffeine consumption groups in all three study variables. Students who consumed no caffeine reported the highest academic stress, while students consuming two or more cups per day reported the poorest sleep quality and the lowest cognitive reappraisal. Post hoc analyses confirmed that higher caffeine consumption was significantly associated with lower cognitive reappraisal and poorer sleep quality, while moderate consumption of one cup per day was associated with lower academic stress relative to no consumption. The findings highlight caffeine consumption as a meaningful lifestyle variable associated with students’ psychological functioning and sleep, with implications for health promotion and wellbeing programs in university settings in Pakistan.