Lauren Novak

Have you ever wondered exactly how much coffee you need to stay awake? There are times when you don't drink enough and fall asleep during the day. There are also times where you might drink too much and get too jittery. Wouldn't it be nice to know exactly how many cups it would take to get to optimal energy levels? The U.S. Army thought so too! So, they created an online tool that tells you how much coffee you would need to stay awake. This can also be a great tool to help you reduce your caffeine consumption if you are trying to cut back. It sounds very helpful! Learn more about this coffee tool from the U.S. Army Pouring coffee / Wikimedia Commons They worked from a study about sleep that showed how lack of sleep affects job performance. The study also tested how much caffeine people needed to stay awake and become more alert. This would be very important for those who work in the U.S. military! They need to be awake and alert while they are working at all times. Vintage poster / Needpix.com The online tool that was created should help reduce participants caffeine consumption by 40 percent and increase their alertness by 40 percent as well. According to Entrepreneur, Jaques Reifman of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command said, "Our 2B Alert Web tool allows a person to optimize the beneficial effects of caffeine while minimizing consumption." While the study was focused on the U.S. Army, who needs to stay alert even with little sleep, it could be great for people who work long shifts such as nurses or doctors. Soldier drinking coffee / Defense.gov So, how does this online tool work? First of all, it is completely free. All you have to do is enter in your email address to get access. According to Entrepreneur, "The Open Access tool allows you to select individual factors to help calculate the exact right amount of coffee for you, including what time of day you need to be awake and alert for. But to really get the most from the tool, the researchers advise eating the right amount at the right time too." A cup of coffee / Wikimedia Commons It continues, "For example, if you take someone who's been awake all night but needs to be as alert as possible between 9:00 and 17:00 and needs to consume as little caffeine as possible -- when and how much caffeine should they consume? This is the kind of question 2B-Alert is meant to answer." If you want to try it, click here to register and access the tool developed by the U.S. Army and try for yourself. Another study reveals how much coffee you should drink before the dangers outweigh the benefits!