Caffeine drinkers are adamant: a good cup of coffee has no rivals to wake you up and improve your alertness. The trouble is that the regular use of caffeine makes you dependent from its effect. The overall result is thus that without it you risk falling under your usual level of alertness.

Tea drinkers experience quite much the same.

This is why a test was carried out in the UK by a team of researchers, eager to test the effectiveness of alternatives to coffee and tea for the afternoon, stirred so much curiosity.

Surprisingly, among the different choices like chewing gum, placebo pills and fudge eating, the most effective wake up call seems to be sage. The researchers concluded that extracts of sage can enhance cognitive performance - and are safe.

The reason for this could be its content of cholinesterase inhibitor, a chemical which prevents the breakdown of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Low levels of acetylcholine in the brain have been linked to memory problems. It is obviously only early stages of research into this herb, but there are clearly some interesting avenues for further research.