> Caffeine itself might not be bad for you, but the sleep it’s stealing from you may have a price. According to [neuroscientist Matt] Walker, research suggests that insufficient sleep may be a key factor in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, arteriosclerosis, stroke, heart failure, depression, anxiety, suicide and obesity. “The shorter you sleep,” he bluntly concludes, “the shorter your lifespan.”<p>> But here’s what’s uniquely insidious about caffeine: the drug is not only a leading cause of our sleep deprivation; it is also the principal tool we rely on to remedy the problem. Most of the caffeine consumed today is being used to compensate for the lousy sleep that caffeine causes – which means that caffeine is helping to hide from our awareness the very problem that caffeine creates.<p>After reading just the headline my initial reaction was "Well, no. It's never time to give up caffeine." But after reading the article I must say my view has changed somewhat. Not enough to banish caffeine forever, but enough to question the amount of 'maintenance caffeine' I consume to offset the consumption of the previous day. This cycle is somehow culturally accepted when it concerns caffeine, yet frowned upon when it involves alcohol. Essentially, it's the same trap.