# Do apples help wake a person up, and if so why
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 4, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406 "2005-02-04T18:37:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/1 "2005-02-04T18:37:09Z")
Due to insomnia last night I only got 3 hours of sleep. This morning I had 1.5 cups of coffee but I remember hearing that apples help you stay awake too, so I ate two of those for breakfast. They seem to be working since I haven’t really felt tired. Is there any science behind this? When I try to look this info up on google using keywords like ‘apples tired’ all I get is articles on Apple computers trying to improve their business.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/2 "2005-02-04T18:53:16Z")
My uneducated guess would be sugar.
Apples have a good bit of sugar which can give you a quick but temporary pick-me-up.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/3 "2005-02-04T19:37:52Z")
I dont know, they only have about 20g of sugar each.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/4 "2005-02-04T19:39:53Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#):
>
> I dont know, they only have about 20g of sugar each.
40g of sugar is a considerable amount. Additionally, you can’t rule out the placebo effect in this case, and the early stages of digestion are arousing (i.e., they increase wakefulness).
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### Author:  [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/5 "2005-02-04T20:05:25Z")
I wouldn’t discount the coffee either. 1.5 cups of coffee is a bit of caffeine. To really test it out you’d have to get 3 hours of sleep and then eat only apples in the morning, no coffee. Then compare that to 3 hours of sleep and only drinking 1.5 cups of coffee and no apples. Of course, since the whole things is very subjective, it’s not exactly a rigorous test, but at least you could see if the apples things works for you.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/6 "2005-02-05T16:14:34Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> 40g of sugar is a considerable amount. Additionally, you can’t rule out the placebo effect in this case, and the early stages of digestion are arousing (i.e., they increase wakefulness).
It’s also my understanding that in fruits, this is “simple sugar”
\*\*simple sugar on the Web:
monosaccharide: a sugar (like sucrose or fructose) that does not hydrolyse to give other sugars; the simplest group of carbohydrates
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn\*\*
I’ve heard it’s more readily used by the body than more complex sugars and therefor acts more quickly.
But then again IANA nutritionist so I can’t say for sure.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/7 "2005-02-05T16:21:02Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> \*\*simple sugar on the Web:
>
> monosaccharide: a sugar (like sucrose or fructose) that does not hydrolyse to give other sugars; the simplest group of carbohydrates
> www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn\*\*
Sucrose is not a monosaccharide. It is a disaccharide consisting of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule.
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### Author:  [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/8 "2005-02-05T16:22:58Z")
I believe apples contain fructose, not sucrose.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/9 "2005-02-05T16:56:49Z")
Apples are also a good source of Malic acid, which, [at least anecdotally](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22malic+acid%22+alertness&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official) increases alertness.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-apples-help-wake-a-person-up-and-if-so-why/288406/10 "2005-02-05T19:39:54Z")
Fructose is very slow-digesting as simple sugars go. Vegan/vegetarian bodybuilders will recommend an apple about an hour before a workout for energy.