Coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world with 10.61 million bags traded in July 2021. It's how millions of people start their day, it fuels your performance, it’s a stress reliever and it tastes damn good. So why on earth am I writing this blog? That’s a good question.
While I do not believe caffeine is inherently dangerous, we must be aware that it is the most consumed psychoactive drug and it can be very easy to build up a strong dependency. When you become dependent on something, you find that you require more and more doses to get the desired stimulation and that’s where the issue is, having too much of something, in this case, coffee.
Most people are consuming coffee at the wrong times of the day, sometimes too early, sometimes too late. In today’s blog I am going to cover the best times to have your coffee to ensure you are optimizing your performance. But first let’s understand how coffee/caffeine works.
How caffeine works
Caffeine is a stimulant of the central nervous system and it falls under the drug class of methylxanthines. Adenosine (naturally occurring substance that relaxes and dilates blood vessels) builds up throughout the day and makes you sleepier at night. The build-up of adenosine will gradually make you more and more tired as the day goes on but caffeine blocks this build-up and increases our cortisol (your body's main stress hormone) levels. Anything associated with stress is viewed as something negative but that’s not always the case, cortisol has both advantages and disadvantages on your body. Upon waking up, your cortisol levels skyrocket and this is what makes you alert and awake, naturally this is what you want when waking up. The problem with caffeine is that it does not get along with cortisol, they’re like Batman and The Joker, so drinking coffee upon waking up will dilute the effects of caffeine because your cortisol levels are already high and this will eventually lead to having a high tolerance to caffeine and then you’ll have to drink even more coffee just so you can feel like you are alert.
Let’s look at a practical example. Say you wake up at 6AM, you eat lunch at 1PM and go to bed at 10PM. When you are sleeping, your cortisol levels are in a constant rise and peak within the first hour of waking up (6-7AM), this is when you will feel most alert. Having coffee at this time is not beneficial at all, meaning you will not feel more alert then you already are which is why people feel the need to have 2-3 more cups in the morning. Between 10-12AM is when your cortisol levels will start to dip, this is when you should drink your first cup of coffee because, like I mentioned earlier, caffeine increases your cortisol levels which will make you feel rejuvenated and more alert again. As the day goes on, your cortisol levels will fluctuate and will begin to dip again between 2-4PM, this is when you should have your second cup if you need it however, I recommend having something less strong such as green tea or chia tea.
Psychological and physical effects of coffee
Consuming coffee blocks out adenosine and begins secreting adrenaline which results in the increase of your heart rate, body temperature, blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Caffeine also results in the increase of dopamine levels which improves your mood. It takes between 15-45 minutes for caffeine to reach peak levels and has a life cycle lasting 5-6 hours. If you are a smoker, the life cycle is halved to 2.5-3 hours, this explains why smokers are so heavily reliant on coffee.
How does caffeine affect sleep?
Because caffeine increases your cortisol levels up, your body will feel more and more alert/awake as the night goes on. This can prevent your sleep or mess up your sleeping patterns which will result in you thinking you need more coffee in the morning.
Now there may be people out there who are still able to sleep and wake up on time even after consumption of multiple cups of coffee (my sister is like this) however, this sleep is usually shallow and restless even if you do not realize it and according to sleep expert, Mathew Walker, the shorter your sleep the shorter your life span.
Now I’m a huge Nas fan and one of my favourite lines from him is ‘sleep is the cousin of death’ but in reality this is the exact opposite, the longer you sleep the better (Roger Federer sleeps for about 12 hours a day). This is because sleep is where your body’s repair and rejuvenation process takes place. It is recommended that adults sleep at least 7 hours and 9+ hours for children. Lack of sleep can result in an increase of high blood pressure, mental illness and obesity.
How can I drink coffee and still sleep well?
Make sure that you are not drinking coffee too late in the afternoon. If you go to bed at 22:00 then you probably shouldn’t have a cup after 13:00. Secondly, know how much caffeine your body needs and avoid having more than that. You can find this by using our caffeine calculator, but for most people, it is between 300-400 mg per day. Insomnia is one of the leading caffeine overdose symptoms and can prevent you from getting the sleep you need. Finally, as mentioned earlier, DO NOT consume caffeine upon waking up, wait at least 1-2 hours before having some.
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