Finals week is infamous for late nights and lack of sleep. Many students rely on caffeine pills to stay awake through the wee hours of the night to cram for exams.”Caffeine can help a person stay awake and people use caffeine to help stay awake when they are sleepy,” said Charles Pollak, director of the division of sleep medicine at Ohio State.The normal dose of caffeine is 50 to 200 milligrams, and if taken as directed, can increase alertness and decrease fatigue, said Gary Mangini, pharmacy director at Student Health Services.Stacy Street, a junior majoring in molecular genetics, said she usually takes caffeine pills before a big test.”I take them when I have to stay up all night to study,” she said. “They make me more anxious, but it helps a little bit.”While taking caffeine pills is not dangerous, students need to make sure they are not taking in more caffeine than they need, said Lou Marcy, a pharmacist.”Caffeine is good under normal uses,” Marcy said, “but students may overdo it by taking the tablets along with caffeinated beverages.”It is safe to take caffeine pills if it is done in moderation and for short periods of time, Mangini said.Caffeine reaches its peak in 30 to 60 minutes after it’s ingested. The effects can last four to six hours, he said.”Basically, caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant which can cause insomnia, nervousness, excitement, and headaches,” he said.The longer someone stays awake from caffeine, the more likely it is for these effects to set in, Marcy said. The nervousness and jitteriness may offset what they are trying to do.More serious effects of caffeine are stomach irritation and heartburn, Mangini said.During finals week it is more important for students to get sufficient sleep than to stay up all night cramming, Pollak said.”The trade-off is between being relatively sleepy but awake and having more time to study, and getting sleep and gaining the refreshment,” he said.If students use caffeine pills to stay awake, the main thing to remember is not to take too many of them and to follow the directions on the package, Mangini said. Students should not get in the habit of taking caffeine pills, he said.”It should never be recommended as a substitute for adequate sleep,” he said. “Proper rest would be best.”